Kahn, Barbieri clash over taxes

Kathy Kahn, the Democratic candidate for seat 2A in the Idaho Legislature, lashed out recently at incumbent Vito Barbieri.

“He is no friend of the working men and women of this district nor does he care whether their children receive a decent education,” Kahn said in a press release.

Speaking at the annual Labor Day picnic held in Post Falls, the recently retired high school teacher said about the only yes vote cast by Barbieri was to cap the homeowner exemption claim at $200,000.

“That is a vote to increase your property taxes, my friends, just as his never supporting an education funding bill also results in a property tax increase because patrons of the school district then vote an over-ride levy to replace the revenue not forthcoming from the state,” she said.

“He is a different kind of RINO (Republican In Name Only) because he causes your property taxes to increase. Yet he still claims otherwise.”

Barbieri responded Wednesday to Kahn’s comments.

“This was a tax shift, not a tax increase,” Barbieri told The Press. “If those are her words, she’s confusing things. The $200,000 cap is on the valuation of the property, not the exemption.”

The new bill passed by legislators earlier this year fixed the maximum exemption at $100,000 or 50 percent of a home’s value, whichever is less. Previously, the maximum exemption amount fluctuated based on the Idaho Housing Price Index. For the current year, it is $94,745. For 2017, it will be $100,000.

“On education funding, I remain adamant that the school budgets are too high given the results that we’re seeing from testing in the schools,” Barbieri said.

With school budgets, you can only vote yes or no, he said.

“It doesn’t mean I think public schools should not be publicly funded,” he said. “It just means there are aspects of the budget I disagree with. Increasing it is not addressing the issues.”