BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Democratic candidate for governor criticized Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s State of the State speech, calling the Republican chief executive’s nearly hour-long address “a message of decline and retreat.”
Keith Allred, who until this year led the non-partisan government reform group The Common Interest, said Otter lacks a vision for pulling Idaho out of its deepest economic malaise in 40 years.
Allred said, “We can come barreling out of this downturn if we have the right vision” and called for the elimination of some of the more than $1 billion in annual tax exemptions the state offers some businesses.
This would help reduce Idaho’s overall tax rate — and create jobs, Allred said.
But efforts calling for similar action in recent years have failed to resolve this issue.
