BOISE — Idaho’s most populated cities and counties appear to be big winners under a new revenue sharing proposal that was introduced Wednesday in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jason Monks, R-Nampa, revises the formula used to distribute sales tax revenues to local jurisdictions.
Barring any major decreases in tax receipts, no jurisdiction would get less money than they currently receive. As tax collections increase, however, the new revenues would be used to equalize the per-capita distribution over time.
“This proposal looks at what cities and counties are getting now, and that becomes the base (distribution),” Monks said. “If next year there’s zero growth in sales tax, then nothing changes. If there is some revenue growth, that extra money would be divided based on population. It would go to cities and counties that are below the average and bring them up to the average.”