It turns out Idahoans are paying dearly for tax cuts for the rich | Opinion
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- Idaho faces $80M revenue shortfall tied to tax cuts favoring wealthy residents.
- Medicaid payment cuts drive fewer doctors to accept low-income Idaho patients.
- Tax credit vouchers for private schools remain intact amid program reductions.
It turns out tax cuts for the rich don’t pay for themselves. It turns out you pay for them.
You’re paying for them right now.
As Clark Corbin of the Idaho Capital Sun recently reported, Idaho’s $80 million tax revenue shortfall is set to rise by another $167 million if the tax changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill are incorporated into Idaho taxes by the Legislature. Another effect of that bill, already in motion, is to cut payments to doctors who accept Medicaid, as Melissa Davlin of Idaho Reports reported, with predictable effects: Doctors will accept fewer Medicaid patients, and many low-income Idahoans will be unable to see doctors until they’re in an emergency.
It’s worth noting that a whole lot of Idaho elected officials were telling you exactly these things would never happen, in defiance of obvious common sense.
First, Idahoans were told that yet another year of massive tax cuts that disproportionately benefited the wealthy wouldn’t bust the budget. Now it’s $80 million busted and rising, and recissions are hitting programs Idahoans rely on. Second, Idahoans were told the One Big Beautiful Bill, extending yet more tax cuts for the rich, would help everyday Idahoans. Now, that could bust the state budget by twice as much, as cuts to programs like Medicaid that Idahoans rely on escalate.
But never fear: As the state budget reels under these policy blunders, the interests of the wealthy remain diligently protected. Recissions hit spending programs, never taxes. And the $50 million private school voucher pilot program (that’s already costing more than it was supposed to, as was repeatedly predicted) for their kids will be protected, as well.
Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, noted in a Facebook post that staff have confirmed that because the voucher is structured as a tax credit rather than a spending program (an accounting distinction, not a real one) it won’t be affected by the rescission. So sleep well knowing that as programs your neighbors rely on go under the knife, the program to help wealthy private school kids get subsidized on your dime will be free and clear.
The situation is the same at the federal level.
Idaho’s chief fiscal chickenhawk — a man who never turned down a chance to call for deficit reduction except when he had the power to do something about it — U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, bears particular blame since he chairs the Senate Finance Committee and actively pushed the One Big Beautiful Bill through the Senate.
As he received criticism for his obvious hypocrisy, Crapo has taken refuge in dishonesty, changing the basis of accounting to pretend that he didn’t help explode the debt and deficit by trillions, but rather cut it. The truth is, total federal debt was around $3.9 trillion when he was first elected. Today, it’s about 10 times that figure, rising more rapidly than at any time outside the pandemic, and Crapo bears central responsibility for putting us in that situation.
And what’s really remarkable is that regular Idahoans haven’t gotten much at all for that staggering debt. Usually, this is how it goes with a credit card spending spree: You rack up a ton of debt, but at least you get some stuff along the way.
So how is it that Crapo has saddled Idahoans with all this debt without anything significant to show for it?
Maybe low-income Idahoans can while away the hours in the emergency ward’s waiting room by watching the debt clock on Crapo’s website tick up a few million at a time.
So when your kids’ education suffers or your neighbor can’t see a doctor to treat their emphysema, make sure to thank not just House Speaker Mike Moyle, who spearheaded the state tax cuts, but also Crapo, who punched the nation’s credit card to the max without protecting the programs that benefit his constituents.
And let this moment sink in. Because for all the talk of the Republican Party’s big shift to populism, we keep getting more of the same: Big tax cuts for the rich and the shaft for everyone else.
Bryan Clark is an opinion writer for the Idaho Statesman.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This column has been updated to correct the expected impact of conforming to federal tax changes.