By Dustin Hurst, includes “A government watchdog group has a message for taxpaying Idahoans: The state’s retirement program isn’t as well-funded as officials want the general public to believe. In fact, Idaho may need as much as $3.5 billion in extra taxpayer cash to cover its retirement promises. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based free market think tank, suggested in a new report that Idaho, and all other states, continually hide the true cost of government pensions, a massive deception that leads to tax hikes, service cuts or both. …”