Idaho State Controller Donna Jones announced today that the state has a $247 million budget surplus – and she thinks that money should be spent to fix roads, rather than Gov. Butch Otter’s idea of a $200 million a year tax increase. “As a former legislator, seeing a surplus of this magnitude brings two thoughts to mind,” Jones said in a news release. “First, taxes are too high on Idaho’s families. Second, instead of looking at raising taxes to pay for road and bridge repair, the Legislature could potentially use $200 million of this surplus to tackle Idaho’s backlog of road repairs -- Betsy Russell/Eye On Boise.”
Question: Should the state's huge surplus be used to fix roads first? Or should the state raise taxes to fix the roads?
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.
announced today that the state has a $247 million budget surplus – and she thinks that money should be spent to fix roads, rather than Gov. Butch Otter’s idea of a $200 million a year tax increase. “As a former legislator, seeing a surplus of this magnitude brings two thoughts to mind,” Jones said in a news release. “First, taxes are too high on Idaho’s families. Second, instead of looking at raising taxes to pay for road and bridge repair, the Legislature could potentially use $200 million of this surplus to tackle Idaho’s backlog of road repairs -- Betsy Russell/Eye On Boise.”
