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GOV. OTTER WANTS TO RAISE YOUR TAXES $200 MILLION
Posted on: July 05, 2007
By Bryan Fischer, Executive Director, Idaho Values Alliance
In an about-face that ought to alarm every Idaho family, Gov. Butch Otter told the Idaho Statesman that he is prepared to raise taxes on ordinary Idahoans by 200 million dollars. On the table are increases in our gasoline tax, vehicle registration fees, and “other potential sources,” whatever that means.
After taking a visible stand against growth in government through his stand-off with the legislature on the size of the capitol expansion, the governor now appears to have meekly surrendered on the subject of the tax burden on Idaho families.
The Idaho Statesman, whose definition of good legislation is that it expands the reach, power, and size of government, is of course pleased, and regards this as an indication that the governor is “growing” as a political leader. Says the Statesman’s breathless headline, “Otter grows into role as governor” by “realizing that fixing Idaho roads means higher taxes.”
Although the governor acknowledges that raising our taxes was hardly part of his “dream” for being our governor, the Statesman states flatly that he now “knows that’s exactly what he’s going to have to do.”
Says the governor, “I feel obligated right now to step forward and say, ‘Folks, I’m sorry, but we’ve got to have it.’”
Perceptively, the reporter (Gregory Hahn) says that six months into the governor’s term, “political watchers are wondering whether Otter’s philosophy (of lower taxes and smaller government) will change government, or the other way round.” This pronouncement may be an indication that we are beginning to get an answer to that question.
This is of a piece with an often-observed tendency for Idaho politicians to be more conservative in Washington, D.C. than they are in Boise, Idaho, perhaps because they are less insulated here from the yammering voices of the left.
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