Conservative tax?
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We have a question for you. 

 

***Is it a conservative position to want others to pay higher taxes as long as you don’t have to?***

It seems like, as conservatives, we used to be against most taxes. Granted, there are necessities that we (collectively) might need to pay for. But the conservative position is the less taxes the government spends, the better, right?

There seem to now be many conservatives who are gleeful in letting others pay taxes so long as they themselves don’t have to. This comes on the heels of new legislation being proposed that, if you fully want to take advantage of it, essentially requires you to be an accountant.

Rep. Jason Monk (R - Meridian) has proposed an increase in the grocery tax **credit**. This increase would take our current per-person credit from $120 to $155 per year (seniors only get $15 more, not the $35 more like the rest of us would). However, if you want to take full advantage of an even larger credit of $250 per person, you need to:


1. Keep your receipts
2. Itemize what is taxable and not taxable according to federal food definitions
3. Scan said receipts
4. Send said receipts along with your tax return
5. Hope that you did it right and are approved for the additional $95
6. Wait for a ***now*** much larger gov't agency try and sift through your receipts
 
In order to even be eligible for the $250 you need to meet certain criteria…and do it right. 

Why? Why more government? Why more hoops?

Lately, many conservatives are saying that we need to keep the grocery tax in place, so we can have this credit. They claim that out-of-staters and illegal aliens are paying $XX dollars into our economy and we are getting our money back in the credit. So in other words, it’s acceptable to force Idaho residents to give the government an interest-free loan, so long as we get it back without interest, and illegal aliens can fund our state? Aren't we hoping that illegal aliens are deported back to their countries of origin? How convoluted have we become?

And then there are others who claim that they actually ***profit*** from the tax credit.


We at Stop Idaho RINOs have a novel idea: How about we abolish this grocery tax altogether? 
 

Remember when then-Lt. Gov. Brad Little ran on repealing it? I know of many other good conservative legislators who also supported repealing it, and some even presented bills as recent as last session. 
 

Oddly, many have given up on this idea. 
 

Why? What has changed between the last session and this session? The only thing that seems to have happened is we elected more conservatives than ever in the last primary and in the last general. But for some reason, many of the most vocal legislators who pushed for grocery tax repeal in 2024 are silent about it in 2025.
 

What is our position? Get rid of any tax that we can. I would love to get rid of the grocery tax. After all, almost everyone used to be against it, right? Even Democrats were against it. I would also love to get rid of property tax and income tax. Let’s do it all! 

**“HoW wILL wE pAy fOr StUFf?”** <- Let’s start some massive cuts. Massive. The government is so bloated it isn’t even funny. We need to stop asking “How will we pay for stuff?” and instead ask, “**Where can we make drastic cuts?**” 
 

Remember, lawmakers have grown spending 55% over the past five years. There is plenty of room to cut, folks. 

After doing the hard work, then figure out the adequate consumption tax. But not until then.
 

This is a direct copy and paste from a lawmaker’s thread on X (formerly known as Twitter) about ending the grocery tax *(we did not ask for or receive permission to say who posted this so the author is omitted. It comes from Dec 2022)*:

 

*RE: Grocery tax repeal... in Idaho*

*1. Repeal helps Idaho businesses in border communities – currently people flood to neighboring states to buy food (since our neighbors don’t tax grocery food sales; OR, WY, Mont., NV, WA – no sales tax on food). Utah taxes food at 3%.*

*2. The revenue reduction of eliminating the sales tax on groceries, after deducting the offset from eliminating the grocery credit will provide over $100 million in tax relief for Idahoans.*

*3. ID is one of only 7 states to fully tax food, Kansas to eliminate grocery tax by 2025, based on recently passed legislation.*

*4. The current credit makes no sense, it requires people to pay sales tax on groceries throughout the year and then must file to get their money back – not good policy.*

*5. Is it the only tax that poor people pay? Recall that many poor people, being on food stamps, don't pay grocery taxes because food bought with federal food stamps is not taxed. So, the working poor NOT on food stamps are disadvantaged relative to those on food stamps.*

*6. Some argue that tourists pay the sales tax on food and eliminating ends that revenue from tourists. But tourists pay gas + other sales taxes when they lodge, eat at restaurants, etc. So, we're not missing out on tourist revenues more than any other state that doesn’t tax food.*

*7. Leadership has argued that grocery stores will simply raise prices when the sales tax on food is eliminated. It is illegal for stores to collude on prices and stores that don’t raise prices win business.*

*8. The Grocery Credit requires elderly and those that don’t normally file an income tax form, to have to file to get the credit (boo).*

*9. State Republican Party endorsed full grocery tax repeal.*

*10. Utah passed tax reform in a special session that included fully taxing food + adding a grocery credit; people started a referendum to repeal the tax reform, & so the legislature agreed to repeal the tax reform because fully taxing food was unpopular. Utah now taxes food @ 3%.*

*11. The Idaho legislature already passed a similar bill – H67, ending the sales tax on food, passed both house and the senate in 2017 with a super-majority vote – Governor Otter vetoed it.*

*12. Gov Little said he supported repeal during his 1st campaign. We need to hold him to it*


Urge the Senate and House to stop with the silly games with our money. Tell them you only support grocery tax repeal and nothing less at [**www.emailidaho.com**]([link removed])! If you haven't used this tool yet, it allows you to send your own personalized message to any committee or to the house or senate or all of the above in one click!


**PS: Stop Idaho RINOs is run 100% off donor support. We don’t have corporate backers, and we wouldn’t take their money anyway.**[**Please donate today**]([link removed])**and we’ll send you a limited edition Stop Idaho RINOs sticker for your car, water bottle, or laptop! Thanks again for your continued friendship and support. **


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