The incumbent legislators are saying that they will lower taxes again if reelected. I'm not sure we can afford it. In the almost fifty years that I have been doing taxes, there has never been such an unfair shift in the tax code. In 2017 the last year under the old code a family of six ( four children and two adults) no taxes would be owed unless the income was over $37000. In 2018 with the new code that dropped to $24000. In 2021 under the old code (based on traditional inflation rates) this family would not have any taxes until their income was over $38500. Under the new code this number is $25100. Under the old code there would be no taxes for the family earning $38500. Under the new code this family would owe $1338 in income tax. The new code lowered the tax rate by two percent except for the lowest bracket that stayed at ten percent. What this means is that if your taxable income is $20000 you save $400 dollars, however if your taxable income is $2,000,000 your savings is $40,000. There are two ways to raise taxes, you can raise the percent, or you can get rid of deductions. Because higher income returns lost deductions under the old code the change in what could be deducted was of little consequence, to lower income taxpayers this has be horrid. To put this more pointedly, the State of Idaho has a large surplus of tax revenue because they "follow Federal Law" and got rid of the deductions. This information can be found on the IRS website or the US Master Tax Guide. I'm not sure that we can afford to continue to pay taxes for those who make millions of dollars. Who are the legislators lowering the taxes for? Keep this in mind when you vote.

Dawn Bingham,

Blackfoot