The University of Idaho Argonaut

Why Idaho should raise taxes instead of more cutting

I filed my taxes on Saturday. Thanks to Turbo Tax, I am expecting more back than I paid last year. Not just in income taxes, but payroll taxes too.

While I still paid local property taxes through my rent, I am getting enough extra back to pay back almost all the sales taxes I paid. That means while I enjoy the services they offer, I paid no taxes to the state of Idaho or the United States. I did, however, support the Moscow School District.

Meanwhile, our state government is in a budgetary nightmare. Nearly every state agency, including the University of Idaho, has had to trim their budgets back to accommodate shrinking tax revenues. Times are tough.

Many have pointed at Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter to fix this problem, and to be fair he has been the face of the holdbacks. It has been his unhappy task to announce the holdbacks as he tries to keep the state from running out of money.

While Otter has so far reached that goal, he doesn’t seem too concerned with the ramifications of the cuts. Not that he has a choice. The governor can’t just raise taxes, but he can pressure the legislature to do so.

I know raising taxes is a taboo in this state, but sometimes it is a necessary evil. The goal should always be to have a government that is small and efficient, and while there are still items in the state budget and some right here at UI that shouldn’t be there, the state of Idaho actually runs a fairly efficient government.

The state’s biggest priority, education, makes up more than 64 percent of the general fund spending. The other two big-ticket items, Health and Human Services and Public Safety, only take up 19.4 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively. Between all money spent by the state, including federal and dedicated funds, education is still the biggest item at about 39 percent.

We have a small government that mostly spends money where it should go. Still, the recession has caused tax revenues to drop off, and the governor doesn’t have enough money to pay the bills.

Let’s give him more money. Let’s pay for our small, efficient government. Quite simply, the Idaho Legislature needs to raise taxes and make sure all Idahoans are helping out. Even if that means I don’t get that big of a refund.

Send letters to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it