Idaho Commerce director pitches new tax incentive

What if Idaho allows companies that hire new, well-paid employees to recoup up to 30 percent of their income, sales and payroll taxes after they’ve proven to have met expansion promises?

Idaho’s lackluster tax incentives make it flyover country for many companies looking to relocate or expand. That’s the verdict of Department of Commerce Director Jeff Sayer, the state’s top economic development promoter, who pitched a plan Friday he believes would help change that.

The measure, modeled after one in Utah and supported by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, is Sayer’s "highest priority" for the 2014 Legislature, he told the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.

His proposition is this: What if Idaho allows companies that hire new, well-paid employees to recoup up to 30 percent of their income, sales and payroll taxes after they’ve proven to have met expansion promises? That way, Sayer says, the state would protect itself from companies that don’t follow through by declining to distribute the money.

By JOHN MILLER

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/02/21/3042603/idaho-commerce-director-pitches.html#storylink=cpy