Bistline letter: Idaho Legislature

Idaho recipe for a tax cut. 1. As conservative legislators, underestimate the revenue available for the upcoming budget year (fair enough). 2. Given the limited estimated revenue cut education and funding for infrastructure (what else can you do?). 3. End up with a surplus because Idaho is growing and generally revenue exceeds the conservative estimates (not at all surprising). 4. Declare that taxes must be excessive since there was a surplus (who would want to use the surplus to make up for previous budget cuts?). 5. Cut taxes for the wealthy and for businesses and claim it will be good for stimulating businesses to move into a state with an under-educated work force and crumbling infrastructure. 6. Repeat cycle. I wonder if these leaders save money by deferring maintenance on their tractors until the engines blow up or if they use money from the good years to catch up on maintenance which had to be deferred in the lean years. Conservative is one thing. Self-destructive is another thing altogether — especially when what is being destroyed is the capacity of the State of Idaho to effectively compete for job opportunities. Please stop before the engine blows up.

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 12:23 AM with the headline "Bistline letter: Idaho Legislature."