A Conversation with IFF President Ron Nate & Tea Party Bob
Podcast Notes by Bob Neugebauer
Bottom Line: Idaho’s $141 million budget “shortfall” represents excellent news for taxpayers, with collections 4.5% above last year and a $278 million surplus remaining, exposing how government officials view taxpayer money as their property rather than citizens’ earnings.
Idaho government officials are manufacturing a budget crisis where none exists, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding about who owns taxpayer money. Recent reports claim the state faces a $141 million revenue shortfall, but this narrative deliberately obscures the real story – Idaho taxpayers are keeping more of their hard-earned money while the state maintains substantial surpluses.
The facts tell a different story than the panic-driven headlines. Tax collections remain 4.5% higher than last year, with the state still maintaining a $278 million cushion beyond projected expenses. The only “problem” is that collections fell short of government projections, not that Idaho lacks sufficient funding for essential services. When projections prove incorrect, the proper response is acknowledging the error, not demanding taxpayers make up the difference.
Government’s Backwards Priority System
This manufactured crisis exposes a troubling mindset among government officials who believe taxpayer money belongs to government rather than the citizens who earned it. The proper approach would be celebrating lower tax collections as evidence that families and businesses retain more resources for productive use. Instead, we see hair-on-fire reactions about potential budget cuts, as if maintaining government programs takes priority over taxpayer prosperity.
The fundamental principle should be simple: government collects only what’s necessary for essential functions, returning everything else to taxpayers immediately. No dollar should remain “on the bottom line” earning interest for government while families struggle with inflation and rising costs. If we truly applied this principle, Idaho would eliminate income taxes, grocery taxes, and cap property taxes while funding government through economic growth rather than expanding taxation.
Learning from Federal Failures
Idaho’s budget philosophy increasingly mirrors federal government thinking, where revenue drives spending rather than necessity determining taxation. The federal government has reached an unsustainable debt level of 160% of GDP, a threshold that historically triggers major monetary crises. No country survives such debt burdens without catastrophic economic consequences.
Idaho must reject this federal model entirely. Instead of viewing tax collections as revenue to be spent, we should treat them as temporarily borrowed funds requiring immediate return unless absolutely essential for limited government functions. This philosophical shift would transform Idaho from a government-first state to a taxpayer-first state, making us the beacon of freedom other states could follow.
The Real Conservative Solution
Conservative governance won’t emerge from Washington DC, where political incentives favor spending over fiscal responsibility. Real solutions must come from states like Idaho, where we can implement principled policies demonstrating how limited government and low taxes create prosperity. Idaho once exemplified these principles more consistently, and we can return to that foundation.
A truly conservative approach would eliminate the income tax entirely over six years, simultaneously repealing the grocery tax and capping property tax increases. Economic growth would fund essential government functions while families keep more of their earnings for productive investment. This isn’t radical policy – it’s returning to constitutional principles where government serves citizens rather than citizens serving government.
Grocery Tax Repeal Gains Momentum
Recent Idaho GOP meetings demonstrated overwhelming support for finally eliminating Idaho’s regressive grocery tax, making us one of only four states that fully tax basic necessities. Over 90% of GOP delegates supported the citizen’s initiative, despite years of resistance from House leadership who’ve abandoned their previous commitments.
Speaker Mike Moyle’s complete reversal on grocery tax repeal exemplifies the problem with establishment Republicans who campaign as conservatives but govern as moderates. His obstruction forces citizen initiatives that could embarrass legislative leadership if voters pass reforms the legislature refused to enact. True leadership would involve getting ahead of this issue rather than being dragged along by citizen pressure.
The grocery tax represents everything wrong with regressive taxation – forcing working families to pay higher effective rates than wealthy households while creating bureaucratic rebate systems that benefit government more than taxpayers. Eliminating this tax would provide immediate relief to every Idaho family while reducing government administrative costs.
Immigration Reform Without Federal Dependency
The GOP meetings also addressed illegal immigration, passing resolutions to end employment practices that attract illegal workers while removing problematic e-verify requirements. The 16% error rate in e-verify systems makes it unreliable for accurate verification, while forcing employers to become immigration enforcement agents violates proper separation of responsibilities.
The real solution involves eliminating taxpayer-funded benefits that subsidize illegal immigration while ensuring legal immigration processes work efficiently for those seeking legitimate American citizenship. Agricultural industries acknowledge that 70% of their workers would likely fail legal verification, highlighting how extensively illegal employment has displaced American workers in sectors that should provide good jobs for citizens.
Local Government Overreach Threatens Property Rights
Beyond state-level concerns, local governments increasingly abuse their authority through arbitrary restrictions on property rights. Recent county commissioner decisions imposing building permit moratoriums on agricultural land demonstrate how quickly officials exceed their proper authority when given power over their neighbors.
Property rights represent fundamental American principles that government exists to protect, not regulate away based on commissioners’ personal preferences about growth rates. When three officials sitting four inches higher than everyone else can determine what property owners do with their own land, we’ve abandoned constitutional governance for bureaucratic tyranny.
The Path Forward
Idaho stands at a crossroads between maintaining our conservative heritage and sliding toward the failed policies driving people from other states. The choice requires active engagement from citizens who understand that government works for us, not the reverse.
The Idaho Freedom Foundation’s “Save Our State” campaign represents one avenue for citizens to support policies benefiting Americans over illegal immigrants while preserving constitutional rights. With $17,760 needed by Independence Day to fund comprehensive media and legislative efforts, this initiative could help restore Idaho’s role as a freedom beacon.
More fundamentally, we need citizens who understand that lower tax collections represent success, not failure. When government officials panic about having “only” $278 million in surplus funds, they reveal their belief that taxpayer money belongs to government. True conservatives know better – that money belongs to the families and businesses who earned it, and government should collect not one dollar more than absolutely necessary for essential functions.
Idaho’s future depends on whether we choose government growth or taxpayer prosperity. The choice should be obvious to anyone who understands why people originally came to Idaho seeking freedom.
