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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

End-of-Session Tax Proposal Explained

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Monday, March 30, 2015   

BOISE, Idaho - No more sales tax on food, a higher gas tax and a flat income-tax rate are all part of a proposal the Idaho Legislature is expected to take up this week and it's predicted lawmakers will wrap up the session by Friday.

Lauren Necochea, director at the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, has testified about the plan, offering explanations about how a flat tax would affect most Idahoans.

"Essentially, this is a shift of who carries the income tax load," says Necochea. "Top earners get a tax cut and to pay for that cut, taxes will go up on the middle class."

Idaho currently has a graduated income tax rate, meaning those who earn more pay a higher percentage. Necochea says a flat rate of 6.7 percent on those with at least nearly $6,000 in taxable income means about 80 percent of Idahoans would see a higher rate.

She calls the bill "complex" because it contains several tax changes, rather than addressing each tax component on its own merit. It's estimated the higher gas tax would bring in about $65 million a year for transportation projects. Necochea says the other pieces of the bill would affect the state's bottom line.

"There's also a grocery tax credit-sales tax swap in the bill that's going to cost about $50 million to the general fund, which is our main source of funding to schools," she says.

That swap would eliminate sales tax on food, along with the current state grocery tax credit. Necochea says the credit is more beneficial to working families and seniors than elimination of the sales tax on food.


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