By Lauren Necochea
Reader Contributor
State revenue funds the building blocks of a strong economy and protects our quality of life. Public schools and career training prepare the next generation. The Idaho State Police, firefighters and emergency responders keep us safe. Medicaid ensures kids, Idahoans with disabilities and vulnerable seniors get the care they need. But these essential services are at risk with a reckless bill that guts revenue at a precarious moment.
How we collect revenue says a lot about our values. In Idaho, members of the Republican supermajority have made theirs clear: protect those at the top, shift the burden downward and hope no one notices.
When you add up state and local taxes, Idahoans working paycheck to paycheck pay a greater share of their income than the top 1%. It’s already upside down, and the Legislature keeps making it worse. Since 2022, Republican-backed tax cuts have delivered an average of $15,000 in savings to the ultra-wealthy while giving just $27 to families earning the least.
Lauren Necochea. File photo.
House Bill 40 doubles down on this failed approach. The top 1% can expect an additional $5,358 tax break on average. Middle-class families? A mere $127. Idaho’s lowest-income families? Just $26. And, while corporations enjoy a tax rate of 5.3%, Idaho families will keep paying a 6% sales tax on groceries, diapers and medicine.
At more than $250 million, the bill costs 2.5 times what Gov. Brad Little allocated for tax reduction. It was so reckless that even two Republican senators [Sens. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, and Jim Woodward, R-Sagle] broke ranks to vote against it.
And it won’t stop here.
Two more bills are already in motion to permanently strip another $150 million from the state budget. Even Little sounded the alarm. He pointed to looming federal funding cuts that will leave Idaho responsible for filling the gaps. His administration released a report showing state revenue took a nosedive in January and February as the economy reeled from the Trump-Musk agenda of illegal mass firings, unlawful funding holdbacks and erratic tariffs that have thrown businesses into chaos.
Nevertheless, when it came time to act, Little caved. He signed the bill and refused to comment.
The consequences are already here. Republican legislators eliminated $15 million to jumpstart workforce housing as rents and home prices soar. They also cut a rural physician loan repayment program, worsening Idaho’s doctor shortage. And we can expect harsher clawbacks when revenues fail to cover the state’s needs.
Reckless revenue cuts happen because Republican lawmakers put party loyalty and the wealthiest ahead of the people they were elected to serve.
The Democratic legislators who voted against this misguided giveaway understand real fiscal responsibility, balancing budgets while protecting the services Idahoans rely on.
If we want leaders who put working families first, we need more Democrats.
Lauren Necochea is chair of the Idaho Democratic Party and a former District 19 legislator. Necochea spent a decade leading nonprofit programs dedicated to research and advocacy in tax policy, health care and children’s issues.
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