Making Idaho Affordable Again: It’s Time to Balance the Scales
Hard work used to be a key ingredient for getting ahead. Today, hard work may not even be enough to buy groceries. Housing costs are out of control. Utility bills, health care, and childcare stretch family budgets to the breaking point.
Affordability is no hoax — it’s about whether families stay in their homes, whether seniors afford prescriptions, and whether young people have a future here in Idaho.
The Problem: A System That Favors the Wealthy Few
Idaho’s affordability crisis didn’t happen by accident. For years, state leaders made choices that tilt the playing field toward wealthy individuals and corporations and forced working families to pick up the tab.
Massive tax breaks for billionaires and out-of-state corporations have drained our state budget — contributing to hundreds of millions of dollars in deficits — while costs kept rising for everyday Idahoans. Instead of investing in housing, education, healthcare, and infrastructure, those dollars were handed to people who were already flush with cash.
The result? Families pay more, communities struggle, and Idaho becomes less affordable every year.
Again: This was a choice made by political leaders. It’s time to make a change because the other thing we can’t afford is to keep electing the same people and hoping for different results.
My Approach: Balance Wealth, Invest in People
I believe in a balanced Idaho economy — one where prosperity is shared, not hoarded at the top. That starts with a simple principle: stop giving tax breaks to billionaires and start investing in Idaho families.
Balancing wealth doesn’t mean punishing success. It means asking the wealthiest to pay a fair share to lower costs and strengthen the services that make life affordable for everyone else.
When we invest wisely, we can:
Expand affordable housing so working families aren’t priced out of their communities
Lower utility and energy costs through smart infrastructure investments
Strengthen public schools so parents don’t have to make impossible financial tradeoffs
Support healthcare access so medical bills don’t push families into debt
Stop Taking from the Poor and Giving to the Rich
I will force our state government to stop favoring special interests, billionaire donors, and corporations over the people.
I choose to close corporate tax loopholes. I will fight to index the homeowner’s exemption to inflation. When we talk about tax cuts, we will start with working families and those who are struggling to pay for the basics. One idea that Trump glommed onto was to stop taxing tips: I love that idea.
I suspect it’s time to seriously look at how lobbyists influence lawmakers. It’s time to reveal who is behind the dark money that steals elections and sells lies.
Idaho’s strength has always been its people: workers, farmers, small business owners, teachers, nurses, and retirees who care deeply about their communities. You deserve an economy that works for you, not against you.
Together, we can build an Idaho where hard work is rewarded, wealth reaches more hands, and every family has a real shot at a secure, affordable future.