Idaho Legislature: Ask Legislators to VOTE NO on H0388 - Resort county property tax relief (posted 03/12/25)

• Bill: legislature.idaho.gov/s…

• Contact Legislators: emailidaho.com

(Check the linked page or use My Bill Tracker for the bill’s current status.)

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H0388 allows counties to establish a local option sales tax on hotels, motels, vacation rentals, and private campground rentals. Half the tax revenue would go to property tax relief and the other half would be used to grow government.

Tax could be up to 3% of the charge for "renting of a place to sleep to an individual by a hotel, motel, short-term rental, vacation rental, or campground for a period of less than thirty-one continuous days." County voters would have to approve such a tax before it was adopted.

This is a bad idea for several reasons:

• More taxation for all! No thank you.

• Stated intention (socialist use of words “equitable” and “inequitable” several times): Shift part of county tax burden from residential property owners to visitors using county services. But it’s a false claim: Property owners renting to visitors already pay property taxes (and other taxes) to cover "county services" these visitors may use.

• Creating a new tax on one group to reduce the tax burden of another group is quintessential government redistribution of wealth. “Tax the other guy” is not acceptable government policy.

• Only half the local option tax revenue would go to property tax relief. The other half goes to expanding government services, including "law enforcement, search and rescue, emergency medical, fire protection," and county "ambulance service districts and fire protection districts."

• If a short-term rental owner offers a short-term rental or vacation rental directly to an occupant without using a short-term rental marketplace, the owner must comply with all of the requirements of this section. Too much government control!

• The essence of this bill is communism/Marxism/socialism.

Resources:

• Idaho Freedom Foundation (-3): idahofreedom.org/house-…

• Socialism, Fascism, Capitalism, and Communism Chart (Hampton Roads Naval Museum): tinyurl.com/y8z4mne9