Idaho tax bill could affect Cabela’s decision

BOISE – Lawmakers have revived proposed tax incentives to woo companies such as sporting goods megastore Cabela’s to Idaho, but the session is almost over, and the bill likely won’t advance.

The bill probably won’t even get a hearing, said House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairwoman Dolores Crow, R-Nampa, before her committee voted to introduce the measure Tuesday.

Still, getting it introduced is better than nothing, said Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, the sponsor along with Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls.

“We’re happy to be over a hurdle,” Nonini said. “Good legislation can take time. I’m confident in the fact that we can get it reintroduced early next year and have the full hearing.”

Nonini tried to introduce a similar bill last month, but the tax committee voted 9-8 against even introducing it.

Tax incentives passed by the Washington Legislature this year make it likely Cabela’s will choose Liberty Lake over Post Falls for its new megastore, Nonini said. A spokesman for Cabela’s said the company has made no decision about either site.

“But in our opinion that’s neither here nor there because we think this is an interesting concept and one worthy of discussion and having a hearing on,” Nonini said.

The tax incentive program proposed in the bill is used in other states to encourage businesses to pay for interchange development and infrastructure costs, then be reimbursed by the state, he said.

Called Sales Tax Anticipation Revenue, the program uses tax money to pay for a percentage of development through returned sales taxes. The Post Falls Chamber of Commerce supports the program and the bill.

Nonini’s original proposal called for the business seeking the incentive to pay at least $10 million for infrastructure development and $5 million on the actual retail building. The amounts were reduced to $8 million and $4 million, respectively, in the new bill.

Also, the latest version would reimburse businesses for 65 percent of the project cost; the original bill set the reimbursement at 75 percent. And the bill now limits reimbursements to transportation and infrastructure development on public land.

Cabela’s has expressed interest in opening a store along Interstate 90 and building an interchange about a mile east of the Pleasant View Road interchange, Nonini said.

The interchange, projected to cost $10 million to $12 million, is on the Idaho Transportation Department’s list of projects on a 10-year waiting list, Nonini said.

“I don’t think I presented it in a way earlier in the session that made it sound like it would benefit anybody but one individual business, and that is not the case,” Nonini said. “This interchange would actually help the residents that have moved into this area access their area and take the congestion away from this current interchange.”

The tax incentive program could be used for any interchange in Idaho. The competition between North Idaho and Eastern Washington for Cabela’s shows how valuable it can be, Nonini said.

Though the committee voted to introduce the new bill, members expressed serious concerns. Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, made a motion to return the bill to Nonini, essentially killing it, but was outvoted.

“This is some more of that eleventh-hour legislation,” Barrett said.

She said the proposed program is too speculative.

“We’re building something on crystal ball projections,” she said.

Rep. Ken Roberts, R-McCall, supported Barrett’s motion, saying the millions of dollars the program would require businesses to spend makes it impossible for smaller stores to qualify.

Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, said he had concerns about the bill but thought the issue deserved a full hearing.