Little’s masterful maneuver: Idaho education bill they all hated — and still voted for

All day long, Idaho’s most conservative lawmakers said what a terrible, unfair bill was the subject of the special session.

Republicans didn’t like the bill because they were forced to spend money on public education. Democrats didn’t like the bill because some of the tax cuts disproportionately benefit the wealthy and chokes off future tax revenue.

Others thought it violated the Idaho Constitution because it wasn’t a single-subject bill. Many thought this didn’t rise to the occasion of a special session. Still others objected that there was still no property tax relief and no grocery tax relief. Others complained it subverted the Reclaim Idaho Quality Education Act citizens initiative on the November ballot.

Nobody, it seemed, like the bill.

And yet.

The bill passed 55-15 with bipartisan support in the House and 34-1 in the Seante.

The 2022 special session was a masterful political maneuver by Gov. Brad Little. Little put lawmakers in a corner: Oppose a tax cut just before the election, or accept one along with a major education spending increase.

And, while far from perfect, the bill passed in the session is a major step forward for Idaho.

The bill passed by the Legislature will give out $500 million in one-time income tax rebates, cut and flatten the income tax rate, and puts aside $410 million for education — which Idaho sorely needs.

It’s by no means a perfect bill.

A flat tax is not as good as a progressive income tax, where the rich pay significantly more than those with lower incomes. But Idaho has had a progressive income tax in name only for decades now — the switch to an official flat tax is more of a shift in name than in policy.

There was certainly room to reduce tax rates, and Little succeeded in that.

Importantly, this year’s tax rebate will be much more progressive than last year’s, returning a greater portion of one-time money to lower-income taxpayers — although too much of the benefit will again go to those who do not need it.

And, most importantly, the influx of education spending may finally kick Idaho out of its last-in-the-nation standing for per-pupil spending. (Credit for this goes above all to Reclaim Idaho, the grass-roots group that got the Quality Education Act on the ballot, producing enough political pressure to break through the logjam that has long failed Idaho’s children.)

The session also exposed some of Little’s most strident opponents. The Idaho Freedom Foundation, which charged that Little had given into the far left, showed itself for the paper tiger it is. Despite howling in opposition all day, it brought about 15% of votes to its side.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this maneuver was the finest hour of Little’s governorship, at least since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That said, Little’s test is far from over.

While the special session set aside hundreds of millions for education, it has not yet been appropriated. Next session, the Senate will be packed with many more members of the far-right than Idaho has seen in recent years.

If Little wins reelection in November, he will have to be prepared for the pushback that those new members will bring to bear — quite likely by trying to block appropriation of that new education funding. He’s going to have to be prepared to twist arms again to get this over the finish line.

This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 4:00 AM.