Girl Scout cookie tax bill falters

For a third time in four years, it appears likely the Girl Scouts of the Silver Sage Council in Southern Idaho will not get a bill passed in the Legislature that would exempt them from sales tax.

It is one of only two councils in the country — of 112 — that have to pay sales tax on cookies. The other is in Hawaii. Last month, House Bill 449 passed the Idaho House of Representatives in a close vote of 35-31-4.

The bill would add the “sales of food products by the Idaho chapters of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America and the Boy Scouts of America to the definition of ‘occasional sales’” that are exempt from sales tax.

Despite the success in the House, there is not a lot of hope for it passing in the Senate.

“The chairman of the committee believes we need to look at our sales tax exemptions in a more organized fashion than piecemeal like we have over the past few years,” said Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens. “It has been tried before and his opinion remains the same.”

According to Vick, the Senate is not scheduled to hear the bill this session, which ends next Thursday.

Girl Scout troops in North Idaho are part of the Northeast Washington and North Idaho council, which is registered in Washington, so they are already exempt from sales tax.

Eric Redman was the only Kootenai County representative who voted in favor of the bill. The local legislators who opposed it gave a variety of reasons, including the creation of a significant detriment to the General Fund of almost $186,000, not believing the scouts deserve a tax break and wanting food tax repealed across the board instead of just for one group.

“If the bill were passed, it would allow that money to go right back to the councils,” said Maureen O’Toole, CEO of Girl Scouts of Silver Sage Council.