Tax Talk

Tax Talk - Legislative Watch

2/21/2018

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In This Issue

During our current Legislative session, Idaho is planning the tenth year post-recession budget. To see Idaho’s economic profile along with county by county statistics, click here. These county statistics include education as well as income.
Major state tax legislation - HB463 - was introduced and passed by the House last week. This bill proposed that individual and corporate income would lower, while also creating a non-refundable Idaho child tax credit.
Another bill - HB 573 - updates Idaho’s campaign finance reform laws, including providing additional transparency measure regarding how money is used to affect local and state elections. However, the updates to the “electioneering communication” definition and reporting requirements create problems for nonprofit organizations engaging in general education to their members.

Organizations would be subject to disclosing their top five donors and donors who give to the organization to support general operating funds (not specific political activity). This presents a huge barrier to many nonprofit organizations in Idaho who participate in similar membership education. Requiring nonprofits to disclose their general donor lists would be a violation of the First Amendment which protects an organization’s members' and donors' right to political association. (Kathy Griesmyer, ACLU)

Tax Cut Bill

HB 463 would cut Idaho state income taxes by about $200 million, while also matching Idaho’s state tax code to changes made in the recent federal tax-cut bill, offsetting part of that cut.
How they voted - No North Idaho Panhandle lawmakers serve on the House Revenue & Taxation Committee. Two north-central Idaho representatives, Reps. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, and Thyra Stevenson, R-Lewiston, voted with the majority in favor of the bill. The only “no” votes were from Reps. Mat Erpelding and John Gannon, both Boise Democrats.
To learn more about this bill, check out these sources:

Keeping up with Current Bills

If you missed last week's newsletter, make sure you keep up with the current bills in our legislative session!

Keeping up with the current bills this legislative session is incredibly important in our work. Are you up to date with what’s being heard in the capital this session? My Bill Tracker is a real-time web-based bill tracking system that allows users to follow and track legislation throughout the legislative bill process. By maintaining lists of legislation, users are able to follow the progress of the legislation they are interested in without having to sort or search through an entire years’ worth of work from the legislature. Learn how to set up bill tracker here.

Recent bills

Income taxes (HO381) – Amends existing law to provide a correct code reference regarding charitable contribution deduction calculations for part-year residents or nonresidents. Passed and signed by the governor 2/16.

Make your Voice Heard

Meeting with our State Legislators are incredibly important in order to make our voices heard. The National Council of Nonprofits provides step by step instructions on setting up, preparing for, and conducting meetings at home offices of state and federal elected officials. View the video here.

Your Policy Tools and Map

Being in yet another legislative session means hearing bills that we may or may not agree with. Meeting with our State Legislators, keeping up with current bills, and advocating for our missions is greatly important. It’s never too late to add some resources to your toolbelt in order to make your voices heard and change the things you aren’t happy with.

Find tools and resources here:

How do these topics impact us?

How they affect board members: Board members should be aware what issues are creating and impacting the nonprofits environment. This is constantly in flux.
How they affect grantmakers: When grantmakers are aware of the current political climate and the issues affecting our day to day work, they will most likely be some of the people we want in our corner when times get tough.

The National Council of Nonprofits claims that these three issues will be the top issues in 2018:

limited resources
increased demands on nonprofits, stemming from increased needs in communities
the growing awareness that every nonprofit and board member needs to be an active, vocal advocate for her/his nonprofit’s mission to affect policies in the community, and at a national level

Learn more about these impacts and trending issues here.

The 2020 Census

It is gravely important that the ACS (American Community Survey), conducts an accurate survey, especially in rural Idaho. The ACS has a significant impact on the number of federal dollars Idaho receives with much of the funding directed to nonprofits.
It is imperative that everyone is counted, accurately and efficiently.
The bureau points out that the ACS generates data that is used to distribute more than $400 billion in federal and state funds every year.

Breaking it Down

That data is broken down by communities around the state and can be used in your funding applications, to help
indicate the number and characteristics of the people you serve, and to set a context for your mission.
“According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “when Americans respond to the ACS, they are doing their part to help the community plan hospitals and schools, support school lunch programs, improve emergency services, build bridges, and inform businesses looking to add jobs and expand to new markets, and more.” (Foraker, 2018).

To learn how to get further involved or find more information click here.

Reminder – Regional Nonprofit Forums

Join us for a full day mini-conference with attendance to ALL three sessions. Lunch is included in the price.

Building your Brand and Marketing Toolbox
Board Engagement and Effective Meetings
Fundraising and Major Gift Hurdles

registration ends soon!

The Idaho Nonprofit Center represents the interests of our state’s 6,000+ registered charitable nonprofit organizations.

We are an association of forward-looking nonprofit leaders who come together to share knowledge, solve problems, pursue common interests, and serve the public good.

Brooke Damico
Legislative Watch is written by Brooke Damico, a public policy student at Boise State University.