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LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER III January 19, 2008
Constituents:
I'd like to talk a bit about a single issue in this newsletter.
This issue is the Grocery Tax Credit. A number of proposals surfaced last year in the Legislature. The majority of Legislators appeared to support some approach to reducing the sales tax on groceries but all of the measures failed. There appears to be renewed efforts to pass legislation this session to phase out the sales tax on groceries.
Idaho's current Grocery Tax Credit provides a uniform credit of $20 per person for eligible non-elderly individuals, which represents the tax burden on $333 of food for one year.
Raising the credit amount to $90 per non-elderly family member and making it available to lower income households, would come close to offsetting the impact of the grocery tax on low income families. This projected cost would be about $29 million/year. This was close to the Governor's proposal last session.
Unfortunately, some of the lowest income Idahoans do not benefit from the current grocery tax credit. Idaho residents who are not elderly and not legally required to file a tax return are not eligible for
the Grocery Tax Credit, even if they file a return. For a married couple in 2007, the income at which they would be required to file is $17,500; those whose income fell under this level would not qualify.
The
vast majority of families on food stamps do pay the sales tax on groceries, but a family who purchases food with its own income is not eligible if it receives any food stamp benefit. At least 70% of Idaho food stamp
recipeint, as well as many of the remaining 30%, need to supplement their food stamps with cash purchases of food to have a basic nutritious diet; these purchases are subject to the sales tax. I will be supporting
legislation that allows all low income Idahoans to claim their Grocery Tax Credit. There will be much more' debate on this issue coming up in the following weeks.
It appears that we may be headed into an
economic downturn or even a mild recession. I think this is a good time to remind all of some of the realities of poverty in the eleven Northern Idaho Counties (data source, U.S. Census, Idaho Kids County Report, and the 2006
Idaho Job Gap Report).
1. 41,136 people live in poverty
2. 19 out of every 100 children live in poverty
3.
Idaho has the highest percentage (29%) of young adults, ages 18-24, living in poverty of any state in the U.S.
4.
63% of Idaho 3 and 4 year olds do not attend a preschool program due to the lack of availability and affordability, leaving them unprepared to enter kindergarten.
5.
Low-income parents make kup almost half of Idaho's working population. The parents in these families work for low wages, often without the ability to afford health insurance, quality child care and early education.
6.
In Idaho, a living wage for a family of 3 (single parent/two children) is $22.23/hour. Only 14% of current jobs in Idaho pay this wage. A living wage for a family of 4 (2 parents/2 children-1 parent working is $20.98 per hour (due to the Earned Income Credit Program, the living wage for a family of four is slightly less than that of the family of 3). Only 17% of current jobs in Idaho pay this wage.
There are also some interesting relationships regarding poverty in Idaho. These are:
1. Drug arrests are up 144% since 1990.
2.
The suicide rate is 22 people per 100,000, compared to the national suicide rate of 11 people per 100,000.
3.
By 2025, 20% of Idaho's population will be over age 65 and Idaho will have the greatest number of people over age 85 per capita than any other state.
4.
Many of Idaho's elders face isolation due to lack of mobility, relationships and adequate resources.
Many state and private agencies are working with Idaho citizens in poverty to assist them to meet of challenges
of day to day survival. A number of legislative initiatives including the Grocery Tax Credit are being proposed.
That is all for this week. Please send me your comments, recommendations, etc. to
ttrail@house.idaho.gov to my office in Boise. My phone is 208-332-1184/
Representative Tom Trail
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