On Wednesday, the House GOP passed a House Bill 332 in a 58-12 party-line vote, prompting Democrats to immediately call a news conference.
House Democratic Leader Ilana Rubel and Assistant House Democratic Leader Lauren Necochea spoke on the legislation, which slashes income tax rates with the benefits flowing overwhelmingly to those at the top of the income spectrum.
Rep. Ilana Rubel
The legislation also provides a lopsided one-time tax rebate equivalent to 9% of a taxpayer’s state income tax due in 2019, or a floor of $50 per person. Under the bill, a couple bringing in $1 million annually would receive more than $10,000; while a couple making $50,000 would receive only $113. The ongoing tax cut for the household earning $25,000 is only $13 a year.
“I have knocked on more than 20,000 doors during my time in the legislature. Countless voters have spoken to me of their desire for reduced property taxes, better-funded schools, affordable housing and investment in infrastructure. Not one has ever asked for bigger tax cuts for the wealthy. Idahoans’ true priorities are severely jeopardized by HB332 — the money we need to solve their real problems will be gone. I dare the proponents of this bill to knock on their constituents’ doors and ask what they think of a bill that gives $13 to the poor and $10,000 to the rich, while diminishing the funds available for education by almost $400 million.”
House leadership used procedural maneuvers to hastily approve this bill, which also threatens Idaho’s COVID-19 relief package. The American Rescue Plan Act allocates $1.2 billion for Idaho, but will likely be clawed back dollar-for-dollar if the state enacts this tax cut. House Bill 332, at a cost of $390 million, puts one-third of our relief dollars in jeopardy in this first year. Idaho could stand to lose more of those relief funds due to the out-year costs of the bill.
Rep. Lauren Necochea
“This is not the tax bill that Idahoans want. The vote today demonstrated that the House majority is not listening to Idahoans and is uninterested in responding to the needs of working people,” Necochea added. “This is a very costly bill. We ought to be taking a balanced approach, increasing investment in education and delivering targeted tax reform that benefits working Idahoans. This deep revenue cut locks us in at 50th in the nation for school investment.”
Necochea submitted legislation weeks ago to create a sliding scale tax credit for working families and increase the child tax credit, while making it fully accessible to all families, as part of the Democrats’ Idaho Working Families Agenda. It has been denied a hearing.