Tax increase? We say no

A national association is asking owners of small businesses their stance on several important legislative issues.

We'd like to know what you think about them, too.

Because most Americans work for small businesses, we find the five-question survey from the National Federal of Independent Businesses intriguing on many levels. Here are the questions going before small businesses in Idaho right now:

• Should the Idaho Legislature raise taxes to avoid education cuts in 2011?

• Should the Legislature collapse Idaho's eight personal income tax brackets and reduce the flat corporate income tax to a flat rate of 5 percent for each?

• Should the Idaho Legislature give a tax credit to employers who create a new job for someone who has been unemployed for four weeks or more?

• Should the state of Idaho create a preference for Idaho businesses when bidding goods and services to the state?

• Should Idaho establish its own health insurance exchange instead of deferring it to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services?

We would answer them, in order: no, no opinion, yes, yes and yes.

Already, there's talk in Boise about raising taxes to avoid or minimize further cuts to education next year. This appears to be coming from legislators and education officials who do not know there was a significant response to questions like this on Nov. 2.

We encourage our readers, small business owners and employees alike, to weigh in on these questions by writing letters to the editor on items that are of particular interest to you. We will make certain that your voices are heard by the legislators who represent North Idaho.