The curtain has fallen on the idea of taxing live performers in Utah.

Rep . Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful and co-chairwoman of the Legislature's Motion Picture Task Force, brought the idea to center stage on Thursday during the group's final meeting. But members gave it bad reviews despite hearing that a few other states have instituted similar tax withholding for live professional performers and visiting pro sports players.

"I have to be clear that in my service on the Tax Review Commission and the Revenue and Taxation (Interim) Committee and the personal income tax task force, this has not come up as a major issue," said Sen. Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park. "Given the number of problems that I can see with this, and given the fact that actually I think the task force's task is trying to encourage entertainment in Utah, I feel pretty strongly that I don't want to go down this path. I just want to be very clear about it."

Lynn Solarczyk, tax policy and legislation coordinator for the State Tax Commission, said such a tax likely would generate $2 million to $3 million annually — money Rep. Allen saw as being helpful as the task force seeks to get a $3 million annual film and TV production incentive fund approved.

"The advantage of it is that if we are going to ask for $3 million, it would be a tremendous advantage if we can identify additional revenue," Rep. Allen said. "It will make the task easier. It would have to be separate bills, but if you can identify a source of income to augment what you may be requesting, then it's a tremendous advantage."

Sen. Allen said he agreed, "but I see it being far too problematic."

He added that the state budget seems to be improved, so "there may not be as much pressure on us to look at direct funding mechanisms as such."

"So, when I say I'm not inclined to go down this road, it's also because I'm not feeling the same sense of urgency I would have felt about this maybe a year or a year-and-a-half ago," he said.

Rep. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, said she was "somewhat intrigued by this idea because simply I know how critical it is to find funds somewhere or we're not going to be able to fund our other proposal."

"We've got to find the money somewhere. The sports entertainers are going to be coming in anyway. I don't think this is something that is going to keep them out of our state. The others, I think as well," she said.

"I guess there are some problems I see with it. I don't discount those. But I also know how tight our state budget is, and if we don't come up with some ideas for how we're going to fund what we want to do, then we're not going to get it."

Solarczyk said tax programs established in Missouri, California and Oregon had problems initially "because the entertainers were not really thrilled about having some of their gate receipts withheld."