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 will shelve a Senate-passed bill calling for an annual review of existing sales tax exemptions without a hearing.
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.
