Idahoans deserve transparency and honesty when it comes to our budget. That’s not what they got this week.
I sit on the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee, which met Thursday to adopt a revenue projection. That projection will be used by the Legislature for budgeting purposes.
The Republican legislators voted to adopt the governor’s forecast, which was lower than almost every committee member’s individual projection as well as modeled projections from experts. For perspective, the governor’s forecast for the current year is 3.6% growth in revenue, while the Tax Commission predicts 7.2% growth.
I joined Rep. Sally Toone in a substitute motion to adopt a realistic revenue estimate. Her motion failed on a near party line vote with Democrats in support.
When legislators lowball the revenue estimate, they place unnecessary limitations on what we can accomplish for Idahoans. Their politicized math means there will be $51 million less available for budgeting during the current Legislative Session. If the committee had adopted the Tax Commission projection, the legislature could have put an additional $229 million to use to meet the needs of Idaho communities.
Boosting property tax assistance for seniors is just one critical priority that the governor excluded from his budget. A lowball revenue estimate makes it harder to identify dollars to fund this.
The Legislature endorsed a lowball revenue last year, which contributed to the current gap between actual and projected revenues. The GOP is touting it as a “surplus” even as basic responsibilities go unmet.