Idaho’s Republican Governor Butch Otter has removed his proposal for a flat $150 fee to register a car in Idaho. This massive proposed tax increase was meant to pay for roads. It would have also put Idaho in about 8th place in terms of car registration fees among the 50 states. We have high taxes in Idaho, as discussed in one of my posts below.Anyhoo, Governor Otter was mad about his proposal being met with cold shoulders in the Legislature. In this Idaho Statesman article, his statement was “bitterly worded,” and he accused legislators of “desir[ing] political cover behind which they can continue avoiding a difficult but necessary responsibility of government.”
My, my, my. How pious. Boo hoo! Cry me a river! Butch, the one-time libertarian, is now the Nanny State Governor.
What part of “fiscal responsibility” does he not get? Last year, his first general fund budget was 8.75% bigger than the previous budget, and his proposed budget this year was 10.87% bigger than his first budget. Idaho’s last two Republican Governors and their overwhelmingly Republican Legislatures increased spending to the point where our current budget is 32.58% more than it would have been if it had been increased to account for population growth, income growth, and inflation. When are the Idaho Republicans going to get a clue? This is not all Butch’s fault—he’s part of it, but so is former Governor Dirky Kempthorne and the Republican majority in the Legislature. They are all a bunch of tax and spend monkeys!
There are probably several needs out there. However, before we start spending more tax money, our Republican leaders need to step back and start cutting all the unnecessary government waste. Across-the-board cuts are also in order. The Republicans have been lollygagging along for too many years in Idaho, unaccountable to anyone and unafraid of the ballot box. I’m a fiscal conservative who had voted Republican and worked for the Republican Party and officials, and I am sick and tired of it. No more for me. I’m voting against every one of the S.O.B.’s this year. Every single one of them.
