Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. met with LDS Church leaders Friday, in part to discuss the church's opposition to removing charitable deductions from state income taxes.

And new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll results show that a large majority of Utahns want to retain the donation tax break as well as two others.

Doing away with income tax deductions is being considered by the Legislature's Tax Reform Task Force, which is evaluating the impact of a flat-tax in Utah. Church leaders said in a statement issued last week that deductions should be retained.

"They likely talked about a number of items, including the flat-rate tax but not only the flat-rate tax," said Huntsman spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi, who said she didn't attend the meeting. Huntsman routinely meets with LDS Church leaders, as he does with representatives of other groups, said Kikuchi. But this meeting was scheduled over the past several days, and so was not on a weekly schedule of Huntsman's activities posted to Capitol Hill reporters a week ago Friday.

The Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, finds that Utahns like the idea of a flat-rate income tax if it keeps the current deductions for charitable giving, home mortgage interest and dependent children. They hate the idea of losing those deductions.

Asked if they supported a flat-rate income tax with a rate of 4 percent but which allowed no deductions for charitable gifts, mortgage interest or dependent children, 70 percent of Utahns said they strongly or somewhat oppose such a tax. Only 27 percent favor it, Jones found in a survey conducted between May 31 and June 2.

But results flipped when respondents were asked if they supported a flat-rate tax of 5 percent on personal income that still kept the current deductions for charitable giving, home mortgage interest and dependent children. Sixty-six percent of Utahns favor that kind of a tax while only 24 percent oppose it.

"There are still those who would pay their (LDS Church) tithing regardless of the tax breaks," said Jones, who has polled in Utah for 30 years. "But some people believe they can't afford to pay their taxes and make all of their charitable giving, too."

Tax reform was one of Huntsman's campaign promises last year.

He and the 2005 Legislature decided to set up a special task force to look at the state's overall tax system.

Last week, after legislators and Huntsman staff members had met to discuss a flat-rate tax system, and in response to a question from the Morning News about whether the church had changed the pro-deduction stance it took 20 years ago, spokesman Dale Bills then 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."