Utah ponders flat tax

Talk of a flat-rate state income tax is gaining momentum on Utah's Capitol Hill, with one expert study group already endorsing it and another taking it under serious consideration.

But as the newly formed Tax Reform Task Force "gets into its heavy work," as one legislative leader put it Thursday, seasoned politicos are warning that significant tax reform is fraught with political land mines.

And Thursday the LDS Church issued a new statement on a flat-rate tax that would eliminate the deduction on charitable contributions — saying the deduction should stay under any tax system.

The church rarely takes stands on issues before the Legislature. But when it does, history shows lawmakers — more than 80 percent of whom are church members — listen.

"We did this, had many recommendations and changes" to the Utah tax code back in the mid-1980s, said Mark Buchi, a longtime tax expert and former state tax commissioner who worked on previous tax reform measures. "But over time, the reform eroded" as many citizens complained to their lawmakers about tax changes.

"And the (reforms) were taken away" by willing Legislatures, he said.

A real question in debating a flat-rate income tax, one in its purest form that has no deductions for home mortgage interest, charitable contributions or minor children, is the stand of the LDS Church.

Faced with huge budget deficits in the 1987 Legislature, lawmakers and then-Gov. Norm Bangerter looked at many tax reform/tax increase alternatives.

The House that year actually passed a pure flat-rate income tax that had no deductions. And a number of GOP and Democratic legislators believed it had a chance of passage in the Senate.

But the then-spokesman for the LDS Church, Jerry Cahill, said church leaders opposed the idea of no charitable deductions, saying they feared it would harm non-church charities, the arts and educational donations.

Days later, Senate leaders announced there was little support for the flat-rate bill.

Asked Thursday if the 1987 statement on a flat-rate tax without charitable deductions still stands, LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills issued the following statement:

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledges the thoughtful efforts of many in state government to review Utah's tax structure. For the overall good of the citizenry, the state tax system should continue to provide tax deductions for charitable giving — including religious contributions. Charitable contributions help provide for society's poor and needy, education and the arts, and other important social needs."