FORUM: New ideas needed

On May 1, I attended the legislative candidates forum at North Idaho College. It was an interesting format and all the candidates seemed comfortable in the living room setting. Several topics were discussed from local option taxes, education, federal lands, gas tax, etc. While the discussion was lively at times, I dare say the audience left with little enlightenment. No one seemed to want to offer any new ideas.

There was significant discussion about a local option sales tax. This has been bantered about for quite some time. Most of us want nothing to do with adding any kind of new tax. I understand the needs of rapidly growing communities and resort communities falling behind but a new tax will prove difficult to achieve. A solution that should be explored is leaving the sales tax as it is and allowing one penny to go to the point of origin. If you buy stuff in Post Falls, for instance, one penny of tax for each dollar spent goes to Post Falls. Certainly this would necessitate revisiting the current tax distribution formula but it could be done. Redistribution would make more sense than allowing local option.

Increasing the gasoline tax to fix our crumbling road system was also discussed. Once again, let’s think outside the box and solve two problems: campaign financing and infrastructure. Let’s look at using half of all campaign funds generated in Idaho races to be used for road improvements. This way we would get something for our donations.

COLLIN COLES

Coeur d’Alene