Property Tax Break for Large Businesses Introduced in House Committee

On Friday, the House majority leader introduced a bill in the Revenue and Taxation Committee to completely eliminate the property tax that businesses pay on their equipment over 10 years.

Rep. Mike Moyle, R-Star, proposed to replace the revenue lost to local governments with General Fund dollars, but at a fixed level that will not adjust to the future cost of providing services. That future cost will shift to other property taxpayers.

Legislation in 2013 created an exemption for a business’s first $100,000 of business equipment. That resulted in about 90% of Idaho businesses no longer paying the tax.

“Why would we create another property tax break for the largest corporations while working Idahoans are struggling with rising property tax bills? We should be focusing on the solutions that help Idahoans: raising the homeowner’s exemption and increasing property tax assistance for seniors on fixed incomes,” Rep. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, said.

“The share of the tax load that homeowners pay is already growing with every passing year,” said Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, who sits on the House Taxation and Revenue Committee with Ruchti. “Over time, this bill will create an additional shift onto homeowners. It is unsustainable and it’s not fair to the people of Idaho.”

Democrats on both sides of the Rotunda have proposed multiple solutions to return balance and fairness to Idaho’s property tax system. In the Senate, Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise, said one of these proposals included “bringing back the circuit breaker this year.” 

“Instead of providing relief to residents, the majority’s focus has been on cutting local government budgets and providing relief to special interests rather than people who need it,” Rabe said. 

“We were able to pass an expansion of the circuit breaker in the Senate last session, in a bipartisan effort with Sen. Anthon and Sen. Lent,” added Sen. Burgoyne, D-Boise, who worked on the effort to expand the circuit breaker last year. “This year, that has, unfortunately, not been a part of the conversation. There isn’t a lot of listening going on.”