The Idaho Spending Index serves to provide a fiscally conservative perspective on state budgeting while providing an unbiased measurement of how Idaho lawmakers apply these values to their voting behavior on appropriations bills. Each bill is analyzed within the context of the metrics below. They receive one (+1) point for each metric that is satisfied by freedom-focused policymaking and lose one (-1) point for each instance in which the inverse is true. The sum of these points composes the score for the bill.
Analyst: Niklas Kleinworth
Rating: 0
Bill Description: Senate Bill 1184 appropriates $54,482,700 and 440.00 full-time positions to the Tax Commission for fiscal year 2024.
Is the maintenance budget inappropriate for the needs of the state, the size of the agency, or the inflationary environment of the economy? Conversely, is the maintenance budget appropriate given the needs of the state and economic pressures?
This legislation sets the maintenance budget for the Tax Commission at $51,642,900, growing from the base by 15.4% over the last three years. This rate is approximately equal to the rate of inflation over the same period.
(0)
Does the budget grow government through the addition of new permanent FTPs or through funding unlegislated efforts to create new or expanded entitlement programs? Conversely, does this budget reduce the size of government staff and programs except where compelled by new legislation?
ANALYST NOTE: Senate Bill 1184 provides $475,000 to raise the pay for approximately 60 seasonal tax employees. The department notes that they have intentionally kept some full-time positions open to reallocate the salary and benefits funding to cover the cost of hiring for these temporary positions. The commission would like to hire for these permanent positions to accommodate for the increased tax volume caused by population growth. The $475,000 figure reflects the ten-year average cost for these temporary positions. This move does not add any new full-time positions and seems to reflect a prudent method of meeting demands for staffing.
(0)
