Browsing all posts in Role of Government.
Urban renewal will mean higher taxes, unlimited government in Shoshone County
On May 21, Shoshone County voters will be asked to create an urban renewal agency. Voters are told that doing so will not raise taxes. This is simply not accurate. Idaho Freedom Foundation has studied urban renewal throughout Idaho, and in no instance has urban renewal been used without some impact to taxpayers. Urban renewal [...]
Enjoy Christmas; save the policy debate for later
I stopped watching the news the other day. Or reading it. Or listening to it. Let me restart: I’m what you call a news junkie, and I always have been. I grew up watching the evening news. Living in rural Arkansas, my parents were early adopters of satellite technology, and our dish would scan the [...]
IFF Responds to Gov. Otter’s Exchange Decision
Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman issued the following statement on Gov. Butch Otter’s decision to create a state health insurance exchange: “I have a great deal of respect for my friend, Gov. Otter. However, I strongly disagree with his decision. More than 20 states have indicated that they will not implement a state [...]
Letter to the governor on implementing a state health exchange
Dear Gov. Otter, I want to thank you for appointing me to serve on your task force to advise you on Idaho’s next steps regarding a health insurance exchange. I know you have received a copy of the committee’s opinion and a “minority report” from Rep. Lynn Luker and me. I want to add just a [...]
Dumb, forgotten law makes Black Friday sales illegal in Idaho
Like many Idahoans, I participated in post-Thanksgiving sales. Though weighted down by turkey and other fixings, I managed to wobble out of the house Thursday night and get our family to fight through the thicket of people doing their level best to take advantage of bigger-than-you-can-possibly-imagine discounts. Now, I’m not here to mess up your [...]
State liquor regulator wants to offer recipes and party planning ideas
If the state government’s goal for owning liquor stores is the promotion of temperance, Idaho’s liquor agency is kind of awful at it. Really awful. Sales are up. Income is up. Drinking is up. And now, the state liquor agency wants to spend some money revamping its website. Why? So that the government can offer “drink recipes.” And “party planning [...]
President’s re-election changes nothing for state health insurance exchange
Now that President Obama has won re-election, the voices for a state health insurance exchange have amplified their rhetoric, telling us that we must stop dilly-dallying and get busy like bees building the federal government’s health care hive. In reality, the election changes nothing. Top officials in other states have yet to become drones for [...]
Idaho should lift ban on cross-state insurance sales
This last legislative session, the House of Representatives passed a bill to change the law that bars out-of-state insurance companies from selling in Idaho and forbids Idahoans from buying insurance from companies in other states. The vote was substantial, 59-6. But the measure was then sent to the Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee, never [...]
Report shows problems with workforce training program
The state Department of Labor is finally asking some of the right questions — questions that should have been asked long ago — about Idaho’s Workforce Development Training Fund. The tax-funded program, which the Legislature created in 1996 and gleefully reauthorized just a couple of years ago, is available to companies for the reimbursement of [...]
Time to release Big Bird from gov’t aid
Let’s consider Big Bird a canary in the coal mine of government waste. If Big Bird is still alive—or at least still living off the government’s largess—after the politicians have done their level best to slim down the government, it will be obvious that the grownups in Washington, D.C., haven’t gotten serious about deficit spending. [...]
