Little expects a grocery tax veto

If Brad Little were a betting man — nobody’s saying he is — he'd bet the Idaho Legislature’s freshly approved repeal of the state grocery tax isn’t going to last.

“I think he’s going to veto it,” the state’s lieutenant governor said of Gov. Butch Otter during an editorial board meeting Thursday afternoon at The Press. He said he might see Otter today to talk about the issue.

Little, a Republican who’s running for governor in 2018, has publicly urged Otter not to veto the measure, which would eliminate the 6 percent grocery tax on food starting in July 2018. Part of his reasoning is lost business in communities like Spirit Lake and Post Falls because of the tax.

Little said he’s identified 20 cities in Idaho where people can easily buy groceries in a neighboring state that exempts or nearly exempts food items from tax.

“It’s patently unfair to those communities on the border,” he said. “If taxes need to be fair, simple, predictable and competitive, we’re handicapping the state by taxing groceries. [Repealing the tax] is the fair thing to do.”

Gov. Otter has until April 12 to act on the bill. If he does nothing by then, it becomes law.

Overall, both Otter and Little praised the recently concluded legislative session. Where Otter gave the session an A, Little told The Press he’d give it a B. Little said he’s pleased with how the state is investing in education, but graded down a bit because of transportation.

“In education we kept our promise ... and put real new dollars into it,” he said. “The fact is that you have a long-term plan and it almost boggles my mind to stand up in front of the Senate and see $100 million in new spending just go through; ‘It’s part of the plan, let’s keep going with it.’ It’s unbelievable because I remember arguing over a fraction of a percentage increase. That’s the biggest issue there was and it was non-debatable.”

But in Little’s view, the smooth sailing for education was partly offset by choppy waters for transportation.

“I don’t think we addressed the long-term maintenance needs for transportation,” Little said. “That’s my big deal.”

He explained that by relying on bonds to pay for infrastructure improvements, the state isn’t investing current dollars in maintenance or projects.

“Part of the reason some of the roads aren’t maintained is because we’ve got to spend $60 million a year in bond payments for all this great work we did, and which we should have done,” he said, citing huge improvements to U.S. 95 as important work several years ago. But Little said additional help for transportation is needed from a fuel tax, registration fees or other sources — steps the Legislature was unwilling to take.

“We still haven’t got a good model for paying for transportation,” he said.

Little, an Emmett rancher who has served as Idaho’s lieutenant governor since 2009, was also asked about formation of a U.S. House-emulating Freedom Caucus in the Idaho House. Little smiled.

“Just go to any other state, come back and say, really?” he said. “We need that in Idaho?”