Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said Wednesday he is crafting yet another dimension for his proposal to tax Intermountain Health Care, delaying its debut he had predicted for Wednesday.

Waddoups declined to release specifics of his latest handiwork, saying until the language is down on paper, he's not ready to discuss details.

Republican leadership did agree Wednesday to shell out $400,000 for the task force proposed in his bill to study the impact of levying a tax on Intermountain Health Care, which currently is tax-exempt because of the charitable care it provides.

The measure, SB61, has drawn strong opposition from the health-care organization as well as insurance companies, which assert any tax will substantially drive up costs.

IHC critics, however, say that tax-exempt status allows the health-care organization to maintain a monopoly on the market with its integrated system of care and forces other hospitals to compete on a playing field that isn't level.

Waddoups originally proposed levying the 3 percent tax on the organization's gross receipts, then the measure shifted to forcing the organization to divest itself of its insurance branch.

Lately, the measure has evolved to a less aggressive stance of a task force to study the issue, delaying implementation of a possible tax until 2008.

Waddoups said he is hopeful the latest incarnation of his bill will be ready today.

---

E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com