So why didn’t the committee notify taxpayers?
There may not have been any improprieties, but no one went to the trouble to give the public a heads up that there were even meetings going on except for Marty Trillhaase of the Tribune. Do our legislators understand that we pay their salaries and elect them to office? How about a little consideration for the taxpaying public and give them some notice next time they are going to have a meeting. We would also like to know why the meetings are not being held in a room where the committee can be recorded by voice and video.
Department of Commerce Director Jeff Sayer told the group Idaho needs tax relief, but shouldn’t give it at the expense of investing in a “talented workforce.” The political translation of what Jeff said is screw the taxpayers we need to give more tax breaks to new businesses at their expense. These are the people who will continue to hurt Idaho’s economy by inserting government subsidies into the business sector with tax incentives. The citizens of Idaho need to understand that big corporate business runs our state because they lobby and donate campaign money to politicians that they know they can control.
If Mr. Sayer really wanted to give the little guy tax relief, he should have spoken out last year when we had a tax reform package that passed the House but was snubbed by the Senate. I attended both committee meetings and did not hear him testify in favor of the bill. Look at the SkyWest deal where they gave a $1.3 million tax break to open a maintenance facility in Boise, only to have them take over United Airlines maintenance and take $20 an hour jobs with good benefits down to $9 an hour jobs with no benefits. This is just one of the unintended consequences of governments meddling in what should be a free enterprise system. By the way Jeff, we hear that Delta Airlines is going to turn over their maintenance facility to SkyWest and the same thing will happen to those jobs. So Mr. Sayer, you brought in a new company at a cost to taxpayers of $1.3 million taxpayer dollars only to cause the loss of good paying jobs at two other companies. How about you terminate this program and let free enterprise take over so we don’t go broke subsidizing more companies with our tax dollars.
