Sen. Brent Hill, R-Idaho Falls, Senate pro tempore, has sent a letter to Idaho counties asking for their thoughts on eliminating the personal business property tax. According to a story in the Coeur d'Alene Press, the tax is not popular with businesses, but county officials fear the loss of revenue from the tax would be hard on county government.

The letter from Hill states the bill currently under consideration for presentation to the 2013 Legislature does not contain any funding to compensate for the loss of revenue to the counties. A bill introduced in 2008 provided for some gap funding, but it was defeated.

The story says in Kootenai County,  in 2010 the tax produced $1.2 million for the county.