The Choice Facing the Legislature on Transportation

Tomorrow, the Idaho House will cast a very difficult vote on the question of raising taxes in the middle of a recession in order to fund our state’s vital transportation needs.

We’ve had an audit. The audit found opportunities for savings, but not enough to cover the reconstruction of Idaho’s roads.

My friend, Bryan Fischer at the Idaho Values Alliance makes the case that there’s more that could be done in terms of cutting spending:

What we have yet to hear from the governor’s office, or from any legislator for that matter, is any discussion of where government spending might be trimmed in other areas to free up that $105 million for roads. But the $105 million the governor is asking for is well below the cuts he was prepared to make before the so-called stimulus package cobbed everything up.

While I think there were many painful cuts that would be hard for the state to make, just as many families are making tough choices in the midst of this crisis, so should a state government that takes more from its citizens in Income and Sales Taxes than any of its neighbors.

However, for our legislature, finding more cuts isn’t on the table. Nothing in any public statement I’ve read from a member of the legislature indicates that they’re willing to go back and cut this money.

What will happen if the bill doesn’t pass tomorrow? i doubt the legislature will go back and see if they can scrub more money from where the bulk of the state’s spending comes from. The public clamor for road improvements doesn’t quite match that of the clamor by the Governor.  If this vote fails tomorrow, we’ll have another year of infrastructure deterioration.

In recent months, I’ve begun to wonder. How long will it be until somebody gets killed on Idaho’s roads because we haven’t maintained them? If you don’t think this is real fear, think about Minneapolis.

What we have now is the result of years of neglect. It happened because, in part, during years of surplus this Administration and the Kempthorne Administration refused to use surpluses this issue, instead raising spending at insane level. The ball has been kicked down the road to this legislative session. And I suppose, we could adjourn thi session, and kick it down to the next one. But bad infrastructure that’s going to get better, except through some of the stimulus money, and even then, many of those requests are going to be porked up.

To raise the gas tax and car registration fees will be a hardship on Idaho families. The only thing positive I can say about it is that it’s unlikely to have as huge an impact on economic growth as an income tax increase would.

Tonight, if I were a legislator, I don’t think I’d be getting much sleep. This may be one of the toughest issues to come before that body in recent years. Issues of public safety, economic growth, and the needs of Idaho families are all at stake.  I can see both sides and I would only ask that legislators really think about and pray about what they’re about to do. And to resolve before they go home, they will address these fundamental issues.

Beyond this vote, I think it becomes the lot of conservatives in this state to work to ensure the big foolhardy budget increases we’ve seen over the last few years never happen again.  The growth of government has to be limited and we have to see fundamental tax reform and fundamental reform of how government operates or we’re going to end up in this same mess time after time.