HB 93: Welfare for the affluent

I’m mad about Idaho’s big spending and giveaways! Most of us pay for highways, State police, and costs of government in Boise. But Idaho’s HB93, just passed by both houses, say some people won’t pay a nickel. If a man with an adjusted income of $150,000 takes a standard deduction and puts 2 kids in private school he pays nothing. Worse, if he decides to put more than 2 children in private schools, then the rest of us Idahoans will be putting thousands, maybe tens of thousands, more directly in his pocket. This welfare for the affluent forces the rest of us to pay dearly for the personal choices of a few.  

Public school dollars are not the same. Only a portion of taxes go to public schools, while we still pay our share of other services. Far more of us use or have used public schools.

H93 especially slaps in the face the governor’s call for standards. It makes the State Tax Commission the only authority, with no criteria, to decide which “schools” meet educational standards. Worse, they decide which religious schools to fund. That’s a government office making decisions about religious schools.

Every state that has made its taxpayers fund private schools over and above public schools has had its budget explode. Overreach, big spending, and giveaways are wrong no matter which party is in power and no matter what nice words they use to give money to their friends. Please, governor, use that veto we gave you.

MIKE BULLARD

Coeur d’Alene