Written by: Jim Hansen
Thursday, March 13, 2008

To understand the meaning of words, look at the the actions of the speaker. Today, when Rep. Mike Moyle (who represents rapidly growing Eagle & Star) introduced a bill to create a huge new obstacle for local taxpayers to solve problems of traffic congestion, he said “one of the things we try to do in Idaho is protect the taxpayers." His tactic to "protect" taxpayers is to put a provision into the Idaho Constitutions making far more difficult for communities to vote for a local option tax to help them invest in a solutions like public transit.

The legislature has access to a much larger pool of tax dollars than local communities, but legislators like Moyle have stridently opposed investing our funds in public transit options and denied local communities the ability to do the same.

Yet, Moyle and many of his colleagues eagerly give away sizable chunks of our tax base to powerful corporations. This shifts more of the burden of funding public investments on ordinary taxpayers (individuals, small businesses, homeowners) and makes it harder for local governments to serve local voters.

Moyle said his constitutional amendment "is about whether or not the people have the opportunity to go out and self-determine what they want and have a vote.” Of course, he has not intention of letting the people decide whether to let us ordinary voters authorize those special tax breaks.

Ordinary taxpayers don't not fund Moyle and other legislators campaigns. The private interests who ask for the tax breaks do.

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