Lake says he’ll kill exemption review bill without hearing; wants less talk, more action
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Quit talking about repealing tax exemptions. Bring a bill. That's the message Rep. Dennis Lake, the House Revenue and Taxation Committee chairman, is sending to the Senate. Lake said he will shelve a Senate-passed bill calling for an annual review of existing sales tax exemptions without a hearing. That measure, SB 1381 from Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, earlier passed the Senate on a 27-7 vote. Along with the absence of a tax on Idaho services, the exemptions — some of them dating back more than 40 years — have resulted in the state not collecting $1.7 billion in revenue annually. But Lake points out that Idaho has reviewed exemptions before, most recently in 2007, but has so far never managed to agree to repeal any of them. If the Senate really wants to repeal all exemptions, Lake said, it should put together a bill calling for that — and include enough sponsors to win a majority in the chamber.
