It seems that’s what’s happened with our Utah senators.
Last week I wrote about Utah’s Represenatives voting for a $230 million tax cut.
Today’s Salt Lake Tribune has reported that our state senators are carefully examining the proposed tax cut, stating that they are listening to their consituents who are angry over such a cut.
It’s about time.
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At a time when infrastructure is jeopardized, citizens are facing a 30% increase in heating costs, Many Utahns are without health care, and educational systems are floundering, Utah Rebpublican legislators have proposed a $230 milliontax cut. This amount is four times more than Governor Huntsmans recommended cut (already an impractical measure, in my opinion).
The people who will see the “benefits” of this cut, if it passes, are not the working people. Further, if this cut passes and the following year sees a big tax increase, it will not be the wealthy that feels that increase. It will be the people who were never benefited from the tax cut of the year before.
It’s a lose-lose situation. Our budget should be taking surplus funds and funds that would be given back in the form of tax cuts and allocating them to much needed services that would benefit everyone.
A step in the right direction: Utah lawmakers consider axing food sales tax.
Repealing the food sales tax has been on the political agenda for more than 30 years but hasn’t been able to get through the Republican controlled legistlature here in Utah. Yesterday lawmakers, republicans included, finally recognized that this is an issue that needs serious examination.
The “catch” is, though, that there would be a revunue loss of $260 million.
So there is a proposal to raise tax on non-food items by 0.6 of a percentage point statewide.
These were some concerns cited in the article:
The proposal also was met with mixed response from advocacy groups present at the meeting. Advocates for the poor strongly favor it, while the Utah League of Cities and Towns and the Utah Association of Counties are strongly opposed without some sort of mitigation for the revenue losses.
There was also concern from Utah Issues, however, that focusing efforts on the complete removal of the sales tax could push the tax credit aside and that the end result will be nothing gets done.
Conservatives don’t want to lose their expected tax cuts and some businesses say it will hurt them.
Repealing the food tax is a good thing and long overdue. Governor Huntsman is looking at ways low-income Utah citizens will benefit from tax breaks. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out and who the changes will negatively affect the most. You can bet it won’t be the wealthy.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 