Group pushes to lower Idaho’s sales tax

The League of Women Voters of Idaho is launching a ballot initiative drive to lower Idaho’s sales tax from 6 percent to 5 percent.

The Spokesman Review reports that the plan would eliminate some exemptions and expand the tax to cover most services.

The changes would raise $424 million more a year that could be spent on schools.

If the measure makes the 2016 ballot, it would give voters a chance to restructure Idaho’s exemption-riddled sales tax system.

Idaho’s 6 percent sales tax raises about $1.5 billion annually in gross collections. But the amount of exemptions is tallied at more than $2 billion.

Repeated attempts by the state Legislature to review existing sales tax exemptions have failed. Instead, lawmakers have enacted new ones each year.