Conclusion: A System Aggressively Rigged Against Small Business

Idaho's economic development strategy, as evidenced by its extensive and generous incentive programs, is not just focused on big business -- it is aggressively and almost exclusively tailored to attract and retain major corporations, often at the direct expense of small businesses and local economies.

This analysis provides irrefutable evidence that Idaho's current economic development approach is fundamentally misaligned with the realities of its business landscape. The state is neglecting the small businesses that constitute 97.6% of all businesses in Idaho and employ 54.9% of the state's private-sector workforce.

The range and scale of these incentives demonstrate an even more pronounced bias towards big business than initially apparent. The property tax exemptions for billion-dollar investments and businesses employing thousands are particularly striking, offering no benefit whatsoever to the vast majority of Idaho businesses. The ability to stack multiple incentives, including combining the Business Advantage program with the TRI, further widens the gap between large and small businesses.

This comprehensive suite of big business incentives represents a significant redirection of potential tax revenue away from public services and towards corporate interests. It risks creating a two-tiered business environment where large corporations operate with significant tax advantages while small businesses are left to compete on an increasingly uneven playing field.

The long-term implications of this strategy for Idaho's economic diversity, small business viability, and overall fiscal health warrant serious scrutiny and public debate. While the absence of inventory tax and sales tax on services might offer some relief to small businesses, these benefits pale in comparison to the massive advantages given to large corporations.

It's time for a fundamental reevaluation of Idaho's economic development strategies. A truly advantageous system would provide meaningful support to businesses of all sizes, recognizing the vital role that small businesses play in the state's economy. This could include scaling incentives to be proportionally beneficial to smaller businesses, creating programs specifically targeted at businesses under 20 employees, and ensuring that energy efficiency incentives are accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Without such a change, Idaho risks continuing down a path that prioritizes corporate interests over the wellbeing of its broader business community and its citizens. The state's current approach not only fails to support the majority of Idaho's businesses but also places an unfair burden on the very taxpayers and small businesses it should be helping. It's a system that, far from being an advantage for Idaho businesses as a whole, is in reality a mechanism for channeling public resources to large corporations while leaving small businesses to fend for themselves in an increasingly skewed economic landscape.