Democrats criticize Risch property tax plan They say raising sales tax, cutting property tax would help corporations and real-estate investors

Chris Doyle of Boise says the middle class and the elderly would be hurt by the governor's proposal to raise the sales tax to support a property tax cut.

Doyle, a semi-retired health insurance salesman, was one of about 80 people to attend a town hall meeting held by the Democratic party Monday night to talk about the differences between Gov. Jim Risch's plan and the one proposed by Democrats.

"The middle class and the elderly get hit right behind the eyes," Doyle said. "Those other guys can put their money in a sock or get it out of the state."

The meeting was held on the eve of today's expected Risch announcement that he will hold a special session Aug. 25 if he gets enough Senate support for his plan to raise the sales tax in order to cut property taxes for all Idaho taxpayers.

The Democrats have criticized the plan for giving a break to corporations and people who own homes they do not live in.

A Democratic plan unveiled earlier this month would give an estimated 370,000 Idahoans who live in the homes they own a property tax break of about 20 percent next year. The Democratic plan would pay off $104 million of the school maintenance and operations levy with this year's budget surplus, relying on continued surpluses in future years. The Republican plan would give homeowners the same tax break, but would give an additional $156 million in cuts to all other property.

"Our hope is we can get enough public support for our plan that they can't turn their backs on it," said Sen. David Langhorst, D-Boise, of the plan Democrats drafted when they realized a special session was inevitable. "The only shot we have with this plan is if you like it, go out and talk about it."

Risch's plan would fund itself mostly through higher sales taxes and through $50 million of this year's budget surplus. In a speech delivered Monday night to the Idaho Association of Assessment Personnel, the governor criticized the Democratic plan as being vulnerable to constitutional attacks and potential litigation and for relying on a continuing surplus in coming years.

"It will go to the courts and it will tie up the courts for two years," Risch said. "I'm not a magician and they're not either, and you can't give lasting and permanent property tax relief without raising the sales tax."

At Monday night's meeting, Democrats described Risch's criticism of their proposal as a smokescreen. "They can distract people with bugaboo legal issues, but what we're concerned with is the ethical issues," said Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, an environmental attorney.

At the Monday night meeting, those in attendance responded with loud murmurs of agreement when Boise Bench Sen. Elliot Werk pointed out that businesses don't pay much in sales taxes because of exemptions so they stand to benefit most from the governor's plan.

Others voiced concern that such an important issue would be dealt with during a special summer session, and not next year during the regular legislative session. They said the public would have less opportunity to comment on the plan at a summer session.

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