Girl Scouts lobby against Idaho sales tax on cookies

Max Smith, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Girl Scouts are learning a lesson about taxes and lobbying after their efforts to change the law in Idaho.

Idaho and Hawaii are the only two states that tax Girl Scout cookie sales, so a group of scouts in Idaho backed by one of their mothers who is a lobbyist there, pushed this year to change the tax.

The state house approved a bill to exempt cookies like Thin Mints and Savannah Smiles from the state’s sales tax but the measure was blocked in the state senate.

A supporter of the bill, Republican State Senator Jim Patrick, insists to The Wall Street Journal that the reason the bill didn’t even get a hearing in the senate is “because nobody could say no to Girl Scouts.”

While cookie sales end for the year in the D.C. area, the outdoor sales are just beginning in Idaho.

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