Tax panel to get a move on
"We're going to kick this up in high mode," Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, said on the same day the House named the final members to the task force, which will meet for the first time May 9.
"We're going to be ambitious," Harper said. "Our goal is to address every aspect of the tax code. I hope we can do it. If we can't, we'll continue the aspects that we don't get to into next year."
His comments come after the task force's other co-chairman, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, issued a similar warning during an address to the Utah Taxpayers Association last week. Bramble said the task force was getting off to a late start.
That was due at least in part to the delay in filling the House slots on the task force, the result of a change in the makeup of task forces approved during last month's special session of the Legislature.
Harper said he, too, had hoped the task force would have already met by now. "I would have liked to have started a month ago, but we're going to run with the time that we have," he said. "We are where we are."
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who has made tax reform a key piece of his economic development effort, has said he believes coming up with a tax reform plan for the next session of the Legislature is "perfectly doable."
Huntsman tried and failed to get the 2005 Legislature to approve eliminating the corporate income tax over several years. Lawmakers balked, concerned how the phase-out would fit into other changes to the tax structure.
Members of the task force include two appointments made by the governor Friday his deputy chief of staff, Neil Ashdown, and Pam Hendrickson, chairwoman of the state Tax Commission.
The GOP House members named Monday are Majority Whip Stephen Urquhart of St. George and Reps. John Dougall of American Fork, Greg Hughes of Draper, Todd Kiser of Sandy, Merlynn Newbold of South Jordan, and Gordon Snow of Roosevelt.
Two House Democrats were also put on the panel, Minority Leader Ralph Becker and Minority Caucus Manager Roz McGee, both of Salt Lake City.
Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, and Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, the head of the pro-business Utah Taxpayers Association, had already been appointed to the task force.
E-mail: lisa@desnews.com
Comments
- Beelines 1:19 a.m.
- Minus stars, Bees still down Sky Sox 1:19 a.m.
- Desperate Mets trade OF Church 1:19 a.m.
- Niemann pitches Rays past the A's 1:08 a.m.
- Giants' Sanchez tosses no-hitter 1:07 a.m.
- Orlando signs Bass; Hill stays a Sun 1:06 a.m.
- Jazz rookies quiet Thunder youngsters 1:05 a.m.
- Jazz finances not quite so bleak 1:05 a.m.
- Tweeters with Utah ties 12:50 a.m.
- Twitter lets fans communicate, interact 12:49 a.m.
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- Jazz brass debate Millsap match
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- Teacher faces new sex charges
- Jazz talking Boozer trade?
- Jazz down Oklahoma City
- 2 Tooele police officers fired
- BYU professor to work on Hebrew Bible
- Dems: tax the rich for health care
- Baseball teams fear 'haunted' hotel
- LDS seminary principal arrested
142 - Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
136 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
94 - Jazz brass debate Millsap match
88 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
74 - Letters: Single-payer system best
72 - Services bids farewell to Jackson
70
As more and more dads are put out of work in this economy, I've been...
The photographs are mysterious, brooding, dark. They show dimples and...
Didn't Obama and Biden just admit to the fact that the stimilus programs were...
The last part of the article about Cowherd is classic!!! I normally like the...
This man was my teacher in high school. He is my friend, he was like a father...
I like millsap, but portland just burried themselves. They made themselves...
It's amazing how quickly society is willing to vaccinate it's children with...
The first income tax was introduced during the Civil War, that's only 70...
If he really did what the evidence seems to show, I don't think he should be...
Utah needs Portland too much. It's much harder than you think to find good...
stacy, have you ever eaten there ??
I had Brother Pratt at Viewmont High School my sophomore year... I was really...


You can be the first to comment on this story.