Let's put that surplus to work for Idaho

Whether our political beliefs are conservative, liberal or somewhere between, meeting the needs of the people in our communities should be at the heart of our discussions.

An article in the Coeur d’Alene Press on July 15 discussed the surplus in the Idaho budget leading to some of our legislators calling for a repeal of the tax on groceries. While I don’t have a problem with that because it will help the poor and middle class, I do think that a few important points are missing from the discussion.

First is the repeated tactic in both the Idaho Legislature and in the administration of overestimating expenses and underestimating tax revenues, thus leading to a tax surplus and another call for a tax cut. Often left out of the discussion is the serious funding problems with many public services in Idaho that could use these “excess” funds (that really aren’t excess when vital state services are chronically underfunded).

Consider mental health services in our state. According to national studies, mental health services in Idaho per capita are funded at or near the bottom in the country. An article in the Idaho Statesman in October 2014 stated we have a suicide rate 48 percent higher than the average in other states.

Child welfare services, including child protection, is in need of additional staff and resources to protect abused and neglected children in Idaho. The Department of Correction probation officers often have caseloads significantly higher than national standards, thus lessening the supervision of some criminals and increasing the crime risk to the community.

Our roads, bridges and highways are in serious need of repair and the Legislature has been unable to fully fund needed maintenance of our highways, much less expanding transportation infrastructure which would enhance safety and help the economy.

The working poor in Idaho are without medical services other than those provided by the emergency room and the county indigent fund, which comes out of the pockets of local property taxpayers.

Though school funding has increased over the last few years, schools have been chronically underfunded in Idaho and only Utah ranks below us in per-student funding. Some will argue that money is not the only answer to solving our education problems and I agree with that comment. However, funding of public schools is a significant issue. According to an article published by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities in October 2016, the total inflation-adjusted state funding in Idaho per student in 2014 was 22.6 percent lower than in 2008. The Legislature has pushed $1.2 billion in school funding onto the local property taxpayer in the form of levies. In Coeur d’Alene, supplemental levies are no longer supplemental and now account for about 22 percent of the budget. According to a study by the Idaho State Department of Education, in the 2016-2017 school year, 93 of the 115 school districts in the state have had to run supplemental levy elections to make up for the lack of state funding provided by our Legislature.

Unlike many other states like Washington, Wyoming, Utah and others, Idaho does not spend any state dollars on new school construction; the entire costs of new school construction rests on the local property taxpayers in the form of voter-approved bonds. Have you been in some of our rural schools in Idaho and seen some of the poor quality of those facilities? Perhaps if the Legislature wants to cut taxes, it could begin by helping to fund school construction, thus providing local property tax relief. And if we want to attract and retain excellent teachers — critical to improving education — and stop losing them to Spokane as we do every year, part of the solution is paying them as well as we can.

So if we are going to cut the tax on groceries, how do we make up for the loss of revenue? How about starting with the $700 million to $1 billion in sales tax exemptions? All of those sales tax exemptions represent the wishes of special interests in the Idaho Legislature and their value to the Idaho economy needs to be reviewed.

How about a tax on services? How about hiring more tax auditors to collect taxes that are owed? How about not wasting tens of millions of dollars on the Idaho Education Network contract or the private prison fiasco? There is much we can do in Idaho to make up for the revenue that will be lost by a tax cut on groceries.

Idaho is a conservative state and we need to live within our means. I’ve lived in Idaho most of my adult life and I agree with our Idaho values. In Idaho we care about our children, we care about the less fortunate, we care about safe communities, and we expect an adequately funded though lean and efficient state government, and also fairness in our taxation. Many of the needs for funding, particularly in child welfare, mental health, medical care and our schools, will also be significantly hurt if the proposed Medicaid cuts in Congress are enacted. So we need to find a way to adequately fund these needed state services that help the most vulnerable people in Idaho, particularly if we cut the grocery tax.

When considering our responsibility to each other, President Ronald Reagan said, “Let us make a commitment to care for the needy, to teach our children the values and virtues handed down to us by our families, to have the courage to defend those values and the willingness to sacrifice for them.”

Let’s remember these important words when thinking about taxation policy and most urgent needs of Idaho’s children and many other Idaho citizens.

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Tom Hearn is a member of the Coeur d’Alene School Board but submitted this opinion piece as a citizen.