Idaho Taxes 101. Idaho Freedom Caucus (12/03/24)

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Idaho Freedom Caucus explains where taxes come from in Idaho and offers some suggestions for reducing taxes and spending.

Key points:

• Governments have limited options for raising revenue.

  • Productivity (taking money from paychecks or businesses)

  • Consumption (imposing charges on purchases)

  • Property (based on the assessed value of homes).

• Taxation changes behaviors; whatever is taxed will be affected.

• We must understand taxes before we can reform them.

• State government is funded by tax dollars:

  • Income taxes (5.8%) and sales taxes (6.0%).

  • Federal government grants: About 40% of Idaho’s budget — this is NOT free money!

  • Corporate income taxes, and other minor taxes and fees.

• Property taxes fund local governments including counties and various taxing districts.

• We must control both taxes and spending.

You may appreciate the reader commentary on this article. Our thoughts are below.

ED NOTE

Once elected, many commissioners and legislators simply ignore citizens. They do not return phone calls. They do not read or respond to emails. In-person conversations often result in little if any action. So our tax dollars are not spent wisely.

All taxation is a form of theft. People who steal stuff should not be allowed to run our lives.

The only tax we approve of is a consumption tax. This type of tax allows each person to control their own spending and decide whether part of that spending should be taxed.

Property tax must be built into the mortgage or initial price of a property. Once paid off, that property should not be taxed again. Otherwise, you don’t own your property; you rent it from the government to do with as they please.

Some “common good” functions of government to protect the citizens from invasion and crime (whether foreign or domestic), maintain roads and infrastructure, fire, police are proper. That’s pretty much it. Everything else is a nice to have.

For each line item in the local, state, and federal budget, elected officials must assess:

1. Is it the proper role of government to provide and pay for this (most items will NOT pass this sniff test)? THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT.
2. What is the source of funding? Local, state, federal, grant? What happens if that funding source dries up? Who is left holding the bag?
3. Are strings attached that will raise future costs or require citizens to behave in a way that we wouldn’t behave without that funding?

All three conditions must be assessed before we even consider the costs of a new or existing program. Especially #1 — proper role of government. If it doesn’t pass #1, it must not be done in the first place and it must be removed from the budget if it already exists.

Nice to haves are fine if it’s one’s own money, but NEVER fine if it’s other people’s money. Not the proper role of government? Then it should not happen with taxpayer money. Period.

Related:

Ammon Bundy’s proposals for taxes made a whole lot of sense.

• Eliminate property tax:

• Eliminate personal income tax:

• Eliminate personal property tax:

• Collect taxes only through consumption:

• More at