Idaho House panel introduces tax cut proposals

Idaho lawmakers have ushered in the first tax cut proposals of the 2017 legislative session. House Majority Leader Mike Moyle says that he wants to exempt the first $750 of income from taxation, as well as reduce the top income and corporate rate from 7.4 percent to 7.2 percent. Meanwhile, Rep. Janet Trujillo, a Republican from Idaho Falls, has a bill that would bump the exemption on Idaho’s surcharge on business equipment to $250,000. Currently, only the first $100,000 of a business’s personal property – everything from its desks and computers to big semiconductor equipment – is exempt from taxation The House Taxation and Revenue Committee introduced both proposals Thursday. The bills must now clear a full legislative hearing. Idaho’s Republican-controlled Statehouse often favors tax cuts, but lawmakers still have to finalize the public schools budget while possibly addressing the state’s lack of transportation funding.