Op-ed from the Post Register.

This year’s legislative session has shown us something here in Idaho: We need to be involved.

Rather than addressing issues that matter to us, our so-called representatives and leaders have instead focused on culture war issues that do little more than harm the most vulnerable among us.

These days, transmittal letters from the governor are little more than ineffectual hand-wringing, pointing out how bad the laws are, even while signing them.

It’s become clear that it’s no longer enough for us to call the governor’s office or write to our legislators. They don’t listen anyway.

Instead, it’s more profitable for legislators to take bills from out-of-state extremist groups, push them in our state and then go on tour as minor political celebrities. Meanwhile, we spend taxpayer dollars defending these unconstitutional laws — only to have them struck down anyway.

No, if we want change, if we want Idaho to move forward instead of backward, we need to break out of the current ride-or-die sports team mentality and focus on people and policies designed to make our state better.

We can’t rely on our legislators to listen to us and do the right thing. So it’s time for us to get involved.

Many of us only pay attention to state and local politics when the legislature is in session and perpetrating outrages on us. Then it becomes a flurry of tweets, a few emails and some phone calls. Then, once the session is over, we lament how it’s the most extremist legislature yet, and then we breathe a sigh of relief and ignore state politics for the rest of the year.

In Idaho, we’ve reached a point where we can’t do this anymore. At least, we can’t stay in this cycle if we hope to save our state from extremism.

We need to be involved on a more regular basis.

We need to be involved in our county political parties.

We need to be involved in non-partisan and bipartisan issues-based campaigns.

We need to pay attention to who’s running for office and the policies they promote.

We need to knock on doors and talk to our neighbors.

We need to volunteer for causes and participate in conversations about moving Idaho forward.

Involvement can be time-consuming, and it can be challenging to fit this involvement into our daily schedules. But we don’t need to be all politics, all the time. If you can carve out one hour per week to help on a campaign — whether it’s for a candidate or an issue — or volunteer for a nonprofit or civic organization, you can make a difference.

But we need to be doing this together, and we need to be doing it year-round. Until we show that we mean business and will no longer accept this lack of leadership from our elected officials, we’ll keep getting these results.

We must run for office, populate our county party structures and volunteer for good causes and candidates.

The saying is true: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer and speaker. She is the State Committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register

Is it sine die yet?

That’s the question many of us ask ourselves as we approach the end of the legislative sessions. And, really, there’s a good reason for it.

During the last several years, as each legislative session showcases our so-called “leaders” as they pass increasingly extreme bills, we wait anxiously for them to just, please, stop.

At this point, one must ask the question:

Do these legislators actually want to govern? Do they have a plan for actually helping Idahoans? Or are they just hanging out in Boise for their own aggrandizement and enjoying the healthcare benefits they refuse to countenance for their constituents?

I wonder about this regularly.

Many of the folks who rejected federal money for early childhood education had no qualms about taking government handouts for their own interests, in the form of PPP loans. Some of the same people who voted year after year against federal help with Medicaid expansion have no problem enjoying agricultural subsidies — as long as it props up their businesses.

Right now, these legislators pay lip service to education, making token gestures, hoping that we the people won’t force them into doing something substantial with the Quality Education Act ballot initiative.

The legislature created a property tax mess in 2016 and still hasn’t addressed it six years later. Idahoans have been begging for real, honest-to-goodness affordable housing help and our legislatures are grandstanding about a culture war that does nothing but prove how extremist they are willing to be in the hopes that they can motivate their base by fear — and hold onto their seats.

Indeed, when I look at how some of our legislators vote and compare it to their stated ideals, I wonder how they can bear their hypocrisy. They make laws restricting what counties and cities can do, and then blame all sorts of woes on local governments. They create problems that they have no intention of fixing, and then point off into the distance and say “Look at that scary Other over there!”

Here in District 33, we have a legislator that heads up a nonprofit that claims to be a safe place for teenagers. He claims to care about mental health, but then he co-sponsored a bill that would be harmful to some of those his organization is supposed to be helping. 

If you’re in the legislature, claiming certain ideals and priorities, but going along with extremism, I’m not sure why you’re there. If you’re not there to actually solve problems and govern responsibly, why are you there?

Some days, it looks like sabotage. These extremists say that government is useless and then actively pass extreme and harmful legislation to prove their point. And sometimes they stick around even longer, draining taxpayer dollars, to further make that point.

When, really, we just want them to sine die already, so we can start figuring out how to work around the harm they’ve just perpetrated on us.

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer and speaker. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register

“This isn’t who we are.”

We hear that a lot around the time of the legislative session.

The Idaho House is passing increasingly extreme bills. I wish it were an exaggeration to say that the House has passed legislation criminalizing librarians (HB 666) for the books children check out. I wish it were an exaggeration to say that the House has passed legislation that gets between families and their medical providers, injecting government into intimate decisions. Seriously, HB 675 makes it a felony to provide certain types of care to teenagers. It’s ok to let children die for “freedom” and faith healing, but House legislators want to make seeking affirming care — even in other states— a felony.

Senate leaders are saying that these two bills likely won’t make it out of committee, but the reality is that they passed the House. People who represent us, the citizens of Idaho, believe it’s who we are. 

It’s time to take a hard look in the mirror.

We say this isn’t who we are. But we keep sending these people back to the legislature. Even when there’s another option, we send these people to the legislature to speak for us. To act for us. To engage in hate and to attack freedom on our behalf.

These legislators claim to love freedom, but everything they do reeks of government intervention in our lives. They want to tell us what we can read. They want to tell us how to interact with our healthcare providers. They tell our local governments how to conduct business, barring us from managing our own affairs as cities. And they do this hypocritically, pretending that we’re suffering from federal overreach.

Instead of tackling issues of infrastructure, education funding, affordable housing and accessible healthcare, our so-called representatives in the House continue to create outrage over “problems” that don’t exist. It’s terrible policy, designed to do nothing more than stir up hate and fear and keep their pockets lined and endear them to extremist groups around the country. 

This brings me back to that mirror.

We SAY that this isn’t who we are. But we have a representative form of government. If we keep sending these folks to the state capital to represent us and make laws for us, can we really claim this isn’t who we are?

Pay attention to the votes this legislative session. Pay attention to our “representatives.” What causes they champion? Are they doing the people’s work, or are they grandstanding and touring the country, emphasizing a culture war designed to divide us rather than supporting positive outcomes?

We have a chance to change the face of the legislature this year. Will we do it? Or will we wring our hands ineffectually as we send the same people back to pass harmful and hateful laws?

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer and speaker. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register

For the past several years, Idahoans have listed, among their top priorities, education, healthcare and housing. As we watch the legislative session, we should be asking ourselves the following questions:

What is the outcome we’re hoping for?

What is the outcome that’s likely for this legislation?

Does this legislation help us advance our values and goals?

Unfortunately, many of the bills introduced this legislative session — and during the last few sessions — aren’t aimed at helping Idahoans. Instead, they seem intent on controlling and punishing us. 

Let’s look at HB 439, which changes the date for party affiliation to the filing deadline for candidates. In practice, this bill doesn’t increase election security (something that isn’t an issue here in Idaho). Instead, it targets Idaho’s unaffiliated voters. Many candidates don’t file until the last minute. How are unaffiliated voters supposed to make an informed choice when they don’t know who will be on the ballot? How can unaffiliated voters know which way to affiliate in a primary if they can’t see a slate of candidates first?

Rather than actually encouraging participation in our process, this bill stymies participation. What’s frustrating is that our system is already designed with barriers to participation. A closed Republican primary and political parties already erect barriers. Limiting the time to review candidates before deciding on party affiliation exacerbates the situation.

We should make it easier to run for office, learn about candidates and participate in our system. And yet, our legislators are trying to make it harder.

Speaking of participation and voting, what about HB 549? This bill outlaws same-day voter registration and other practices that make Idaho a state reasonably accessible for voters. It’s almost as if the desired policy outcome is for the voters to sit down, shut up and take whatever scraps legislators are willing to dole out.

Another bill, HB 631, outlaws local mask mandates for any reason. First of all, we didn’t see much practical enforcement of mask mandates at any point during the pandemic. So it’s not exactly an “issue” we had in Idaho. Secondly, the founders of our country supported various mandates for public health, so it seems strange to enact policies that could endanger public health rather than, as the Constitution puts it, “promote the general welfare.”

Don’t even get me started on the proposal to raise the sales tax as a “fix” for property taxes or the fact that our Bonneville County House members just voted for a bill that makes it even harder than it already is to pass school bonds.

They’re showing us who they are. They manufacture outrage over nonexistent problems and create bad policies as “solutions.” However, the actual outcomes are designed to quash our voices, dismantle our education system and reduce our choices.

It’s time to pay attention to who’s pushing these bills and realize that they aren’t doing it to help us but to control us. Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer and speaker. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register

Access to the system is one of the most important principles of our representative republic. Our country falls under the umbrella of a democratic system of government. The ability to access the ballot box and vote for those who represent us is a cornerstone of a thriving democratic and representative republic.

That’s why it’s so distressing when we see our so-called representatives — the people we elected — do their best to make it harder for us to participate in the system.

Let’s take a look at House Bill 549, which is designed to eliminate same-day voter registration, disallow student IDs for voting and get rid of our voter affidavit system. This bill is specifically designed to make it harder to vote. All of this is done in the name of “preventing election fraud.” The myth of widespread election fraud is one of the current bogey-men being put forth by extremists trying to limit citizen participation and reduce our access to the system.

Idaho currently has some of the most accessible voting laws in the country. Same-day voter registration is popular with Idahoans and the fact that you can sign an affidavit — which is properly cross-referenced and verified later — and cast a ballot is a great way to ensure access to the ballot box.

But, unfortunately, in what seems like the ongoing practice for certain legislators in the last few years, this bill is a bad policy addressing a non-existent problem. Even one of the sponsors of the bill, Rep. Dorothy Moon (R-Stanley), admitted that there is no evidence of fraud in Idaho. The provisions in this bill take us backward and reduce the ability of citizens to participate as voters. 

Idaho’s current laws, while they could be a little bit better, do offer a great deal of flexibility for those whose work obligations, health constraints and other difficulties would normally make it almost prohibitively difficult for them to cast a ballot. Moon’s legislation throws up barriers for no good reason, other than she wants to grandstand and pander to extremists as she runs for Secretary of State.

Another bill limits participation in a different way. Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) is proposing House Bill 567, which would reduce our already-short filing window for primary elections from 12 days to five days. This is a huge barrier to those who wish to run for office, especially those who live farther from Boise. Currently, paperwork must be received by 5 pm on the 10th Friday before the primary. Idaho’s Secretary of State office allows you to mail your notarized forms, but they must arrive at the office by the appointed time.

The filing window is also set up so that you can’t submit paperwork before the filing window opens, so those who live in Eastern Idaho or Northern Idaho might not be assured that their paperwork would even arrive on time under Crane’s proposed law. They’d have to drive to Boise with papers in hand — unless they’re already a legislator in town for the session. This would make it exceptionally difficult for primary challengers.

Both of these are bad bills that make it harder for Idahoans to participate in the system. And, unfortunately, that’s what these “representatives” want.

Miranda Marquit, Masters of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, speaker and writer. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register

Every year Boise State University releases a survey of Idahoans’ legislative priorities. The top five priorities for 2022 include:

• Education
• Jobs and the economy
• Healthcare
• Housing
• The environment

Noticeably missing from the top five priorities — as it has been for the last several years — is taxes. The people of Idaho are well aware that we need to make investments in our state if we want to truly reach our potential.

Yet the first thing that passed the Idaho House this legislative session was a massive tax break for the wealthiest 1% in the state. According to an analysis by the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, those making $557,000 or more would get $13,254 in total benefits. However, Idahoans making between $26,000 and $44,000 would see total benefits of $127. I, personally, fall into the income range that, according to the analysis, says my total benefits would be $1,142.

Most Idahoans, though, can probably expect a benefit of between $77 and $300, depending on their situation and dependents. 

On top of that, the corporate tax in Idaho would be cut from 6.5% to 6%. Rather than championing a tax change that would benefit Idaho’s working families, such as broadening the tax brackets, the legislature is just cutting taxes for corporations.

None of this, of course, addresses the property tax mess the legislature made when it changed the exemption. So, as Idaho residential homeowners have been increasing bearing the brunt of this property tax policy, while commercial concerns only account for about 30%, the legislature continues to gift wrap breaks for the wealthiest while leaving most people to scrape by as best they can in a state that has some of the lowest wages in the nation.

These tax cuts for the top don’t actually provide any sort of real economic support or represent an investment in Idaho and its people. In fact, various analyses over the last three decades from a variety of sources ranging from the Congressional Budget Office to the University of Chicago find that cutting taxes for the wealthy is one of the most ineffective ways to boost the economy.

Instead, providing relief to middle- and lower-income earners is more likely to provide economic gains that help more people, rather than a select few who don’t need the help anyway. Additionally, investing in early childhood education, creating an environment where people can earn higher wages and providing a safety net are all more likely to create safer and more prosperous communities.

But here we are. Once again. They’ll spin a story about “historic” budgets for education and infrastructure, but it only feels big now because they’ve starved us for so long. Continually playing catch up because our “leaders” refuse to invest in Idaho is not “historic.” 

Our coffers are overflowing because the legislature has preferred giving tax breaks to their cronies to making investments in Idaho’s future. It’s time for this to stop and for Idaho’s elected officials to make real investments in our communities.

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, speaker and writer. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register

“It will take money — not mothballs — in the state treasury to build the Idaho of which we all dream.”

– Idaho Governor Robert E. Smylie (R), 1966

There was a time, before the 1990s, when Idaho’s elected officials believed that investment in our community was worthwhile. Well, today, we have a full treasury. Still, some of our state officials are trying to convince us that we can’t afford to adequately fund education and other priorities we have as citizens.

While the announcement that Governor Little wants to increase education funding by 11% this year is welcome news and a step in the right direction, it’s also essential to understand some context.

First of all, part of the reason we need what feels like such a significant increase is because our legislature and other officials have been underfunding education for years. As Luke Mayville, with Reclaim Idaho, recently pointed out, spending on K-12 education has been declining as a percentage of our budget since the mid-1990s. In 1965, when we had leaders interested in investing in the people, the legislature approved a 44% increase to the education budget.

Let that sink in. 

By increasing the education budget this year, we’re bringing our per-pupil spending from 55% to 62% of the national average. Back in the day, we spent 74% of the national average on our students. 

And it’s not just our education spending. Our elected officials like to pretend that we can’t keep up with infrastructure and reverse the legislature’s devastating 2016 property tax decision while adequately funding education. They claim this out of one side of their mouths while, out of the other side of their mouths, they talk about providing a tax cut for the top earners in the state.

For years, tax cuts haven’t even made the top five priorities for the people of Idaho. Yet that’s what our elected officials keep flogging as some sort of measure of “success.” In reality, success would look like access to affordable healthcare, property tax policies that don’t overburden residential owners, adequately-funded education, upgraded infrastructure. 

If our elected officials want to provide true tax reform and relief for more Idahoans, they’d shift from just lowering the top tax rate to broadening the tax brackets. The fact that you’re in the Idaho tax bracket when you make $7,939 as a single filer or $15,878 as a joint filer is ridiculous. Widening the brackets would provide more meaningful relief — especially in a state with such a high proportion of minimum wage workers.

Yes, when you look at the story told by elected officials, it looks rosy. Increases in the education budget! Tax cuts! But they’re spinning the story. Yes, we have an economy that’s working well for people at the top, and the numbers seem impressive. But when you actually look at people struggling with property taxes while working two minimum wage jobs to feed their families, things don’t look so good. It’s time for Idaho’s officials to actually implement policies that help us, rather than just reward themselves on their cronies.

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, consultant, writer and speaker. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register.

The end of the year offers us time to reflect.

I’ve been reflecting on how we can do good in the world. Sometimes it feels like there are so many big problems — and that there’s not a lot we can do to influence the decision-makers.

As we move into a new year, I think it’s important for us to think about what we can do in our own small corners to make a positive difference.

It seems like a small thing, but when you serve lunch at the Soup Kitchen or help at the Community Food Basket, you can see the difference you make. When you contribute to the YMCA, you know you’re helping with affordable childcare. Make a purchase at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and you’re supporting the mission for affordable housing. 

Contributing to local charities and volunteering with local causes allows you the chance to see who you’re helping and witness the improvements to their lives.

Local politics is another place where you can make a difference. It’s tempting to look at the national political scene and become frustrated. When you pay attention — and participate — closer to home, though, you can actually influence the policies that are implemented.

A group of passionate citizens rallied together to save a park and push our local elected leaders to reconsider the location of our needed water tower. With citizens and officials working together, a creative solution is in the works. But this process only works if we elect people who are willing to listen, work with citizens and make changes when necessary.

Unfortunately, as we move into a new year, the worry is that our state legislature isn’t as responsive as our city council. Our city council works with constituents to find solutions to issues, but our state legislature seems intent on ignoring us. 

This is where we have a chance to make a difference again. State legislative seats are all up for election in 2022. Many county seats are also up for election. These are positions that influence the policies that impact our daily lives. Our legislators should be helping us fund education and support our children. They should be taking advantage of available resources to help our citizens with affordable healthcare and address our growing affordable housing problem.

We should be looking at the voting records of our state legislators. Have they been waging a culture war and grandstanding? Are they talking about made-up problems as a way to distract us from the fact that they aren’t doing the actual work of the people?

Now is the time for us to consider making a change. As we reflect on the outrages our so-called leaders have inflicted on the state this year, now’s the time for us to get involved in next year’s elections. Find a candidate whose policies reflect your values. Work to get them elected. We have a chance in 2022 to change the course our state is on, and we have the power to do it. But we have to get involved.

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized personal finance expert, speaker and author. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published on the Post Register.

As we approach the end of another year, it’s common to look ahead. Some of us set goals or get excited about new projects. We think about what we want to focus on. Should we pay more attention to our health? Is it time to get serious about our finances?

In the state of Idaho, a new brings with it the legislative session. Unfortunately, during the last few years, the arrival of a new year and a new legislative session has been an occasion of dread for the citizens of our state.

No matter how long we asked for the state legislature to help us with affordable healthcare, they refused to expand Medicaid. We had to take matters into our own hands with a citizen initiative.

Idahoans have been begging the legislature to adequately fund education for years. And the legislature, while paying lip service to educational ideals, refuses. In fact, it appears that the coming legislative session will likely focus on introducing measures designed to further undermine public education in Idaho.

This refusal to act on behalf of Idahoans — indeed, this disgusting insistence on enacting legislation that causes actual harm — has led to another citizen initiative designed to force the legislature to provide funding for our educators and needed programs.

Another issue we’re dealing with right now revolves around affordable housing. Idaho has millions of dollars that can be used for housing assistance. It’s sitting there — from the federal government. It’s too bad that, rather than looking for ways this money can help our communities, our so-called leaders are instead grandstanding and making speeches. If we don’t take advantage of that federal money, it gets sent to another state. 

Why won’t our legislators take advantage of these funds? Millions of dollars for education (remember the early learning money?) and affordable are at risk of being sent elsewhere, all because many in our legislature are more worried about a made-up culture war than doing what we elected them to do. 

It’s not that these legislators aren’t interested in federal dollars. Many have shown in the past that they’re perfectly willing to accept federal money in the form of forgivable PPP loans, agriculture subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives that come their way. When it comes to their own enrichment, federal money is no problem. They’ll take it all day long.

But we ask them to give our children a competitive start? We ask them to fund our teacher salaries? We beg them to fix the problems they created with property taxes? We suggest they focus on affordable housing for Idaho’s working families? Well, they’re just too busy wasting taxpayer dollars on “special sessions” where they rail against the manufactured outrage du jour.

As we move into the new year, let’s re-examine our values and priorities. Let’s think about who we want to be as Idahoans and in our community. Then let’s truly hold our legislators accountable when they don’t deliver. 

Miranda Marquit, MBA, is a nationally recognized financial expert, speaker and writer. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.

Published in the Post Register.

Just what is return on investment (ROI)?

When we talk about it in money terms, we’re usually talking about profitability. How much financial profit do we get when we invest our dollars?

Investing in communities, though, is an entirely different proposition.

Too often, we fall into the trap of assuming that a government should be run like a business. However, the government isn’t a business. Goals and outcomes are different — and they should be.

Rather than identifying and investing in profit centers and hoping for a return on investment in terms of revenue and profit, the government is meant to invest in communities. The return isn’t always a straight line to dollar returns, however. 

When we invest in communities, the returns are often in an educated and productive workforce, public safety and health. It’s hard to quantify your quality of life, but that’s the main advantage of government investment in our communities.

That’s not to say that there are no monetary considerations when you invest in our communities. For example, for every dollar spent on early childhood education, the Learning Policy Institute research indicates that we reap about $7.30 in economic benefits down the road. A better-educated citizenry and workforce contribute to long-term economic benefits that aren’t readily apparent just by looking at next year.

What about infrastructure? Well, according to a research review cited by the Economic Policy Institute, every $100 invested in infrastructure boosts private-sector output by an average of $17 in the long run. That’s right, we get an extra boost, on top of what’s already there, when the government invests in infrastructure.

So, where do tax cuts fall? Well, an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, ranking 11 different methods of economic stimulus, places tax cuts at number 11. 

Investing in our people, in our communities, provides us with benefits that we just don’t see when we let everyone fend for themselves. We poo-poo government safety net investments like food assistance and Medicaid. However, the incidence of fraud in these programs is low, and they help our communities in ways that private charity can’t. Indeed, research from Indiana University found that only 30% of charitable giving focuses on the poor and alleviating the issues they face.

It’s for us to take a look at our leaders and ask them to invest in us. We’ve been demanding that they invest in education. They aren’t. We ask them to invest in infrastructure. They don’t. We had to force them to invest in affordable healthcare by passing Medicaid expansion. And they still spend more time trying to get out of their obligation than they do addressing affordable housing issues. 

We have a historic surplus in our state right now. But, as my friend David Roth points out, is it truly a surplus? Or is it the result of years of under-investing in our communities and our people? It’s time for our so-called leaders to stop giving tax cuts to their wealthy donors and friends. It’s time for them to invest in Idaho.

Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer, speaker and podcaster. She is the state committeewoman for the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.