From today’s House debate on HB 311, the tax bill, which so far has all come from minority Democrats:

Rep. Phylis King, D-Boise, said, “This will be a disastrous tax hike for middle income families. It will also decrease our revenues.” She said the tax changes in the bill “will jeopardize the funds necessary to fund a career ladder in future years. … Please vote no, and let’s reconsider a better way to fund roads and bridges.”

Rep. John McCrostie, D-Boise, told the House, “The middle-class tax hike that’s being proposed under HB 311 causes me great concern as a public school teacher.” He said education funding in Idaho “needs considerable improvement to say the least.” He noted that lawmakers have just approved a new career ladder teacher pay plan. “If we don’t fund the career ladder, I can tell you that I will leave the teaching profession,” he said.

Rep. Elaine Smith, D-Pocatello, said, “This bill is raising taxes on the middle class and working families. Many of our senior citizens in Idaho are in the middle class, and they are on fixed incomes. I am in that group. I also look at the middle class as the backbone of our society. This bill is … very irresponsible.”

Rep. Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, called the bill an "anti-Robin Hood approach." She said when she researched which states have the highest GDP per capita, "Many of those actually have much higher tax rates than we have," like California. Businesses are going there, she said. "I don't think it's their tax rate that's enticing them there." She asked, "What does correlate to economic success? ... It is the states that have the strongest education system."