"We're not going to have the America that we want until we elect leaders who are going to tell the truth--not most days, but every day." --Ann Richards
Wages, Property Taxes, and Cost of Living
Idaho’s cost of living is not low, wages are. According to the Idaho Department of Labor, in the last 5 years, housing costs have gone up 73% while wages have only gone up 14%, averaging $17 per hour and a mean yearly income of $35,000. Idaho has the lowest wages among all of our surrounding states and the highest amount of minimum wage earners per capita in the nation. In the last 10 years, Ada County housing prices have gone up 300% and up 149% in Idaho.
Compounding the low wage situation in Idaho has been unemployment during the pandemic. In 2020, the Idaho Department of Labor paid more than $1 billion in unemployment benefits. Ninety-two percent of Idahoans' lost jobs and reduction in hours in 2020 were due to the pandemic and accompanying economic recession. Unemployment is still markedly higher than it was this time last year with three times the number of claims filed the week of February 6, 2021 as filed the same week in 2020. Comparing the rate of unemployment in Idaho pre and mid-pandemic, December 2019 was at 2.9% and December 2020 was at 4.5%.
This is unsustainable for many Idahoans who are struggling to stay in their homes and earn a living wage. Several times we have introduced property tax relief bills that would increase homeowners exemptions and circuit breakers that would help our seniors and those on fixed incomes, but these have gone nowhere. Our tax burden shifted more on residential properties and less on commercial properties in a time of extraordinary population growth. This situation exacerbates infrastructure needs, the ability for local governments to provide community services, and adds pressure on schools to pass operational supplemental levies.
Idaho is sitting on over a billion dollars of revenue that constitutionally should benefit the health and welfare of Idahoans, like property tax relief, tackling the crucial lack of transportation maintenance, broadband infrastructure, and crumbling education budgets. Instead, according to the Idaho Legislative Service Office, Division of Budget & Policy Analysis, a tax relief bill in the Idaho House (H199) would not benefit low income families and give approximately $4,500 to high wage earners. The legislature has an obligation to better serve the people.
Hispanic Profile Data Book
The Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs has issued its updated Hispanic Profile Data Book, which is 181 pages packed with demographic information presented in informative text, charts, and graphs. This kind of data is very important to making good policy for the State of Idaho.
Statewide Hispanics make up:
13% of Idaho's population
18% of k-12 public school students
3% of Idaho public school personnel
12.5% of the the labor force
26% of those without health insurance
7% of registered voters
Over 70% of Idaho's Hispanic residents were born in the United States and 81% are U.S. Citizens.
Hispanics in Idaho have disproportionately contracted Covid-19, with 22% of cases with known ethnicity as of December 14, 2020, although they account for 11% of deaths. This higher rate is driven by the types of jobs Hispanics hold; health status; age; and larger multi-generational households.
