Utah runs a hefty surplus

Were they not Republican, Utah state government leaders might well be singing "Happy Days Are Here Again" after hearing that the latest revenue estimates show the state is running a whopping $162 million surplus.

That's above the more than $300 million lawmakers reallocated in February.

Yes, Franklin D. Roosevelt's theme song, which tried to tell Americans the Great Depression was over in the 1930s, could certainly apply today.

"This is as good as it gets," said state Tax Commission chief econ- omist Doug Macdonald.

With just a month to go in the 2004-05 fiscal year, Macdonald's monthly revenue update shows that the state's two main funds — the Uniform School Fund and the General Fund — have a combined $162.33 million surplus.

The Transportation Fund has another $11.25 million surplus.

A month ago, when the state was running just a $112 million surplus in its two main funds, Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, and other GOP lawmakers were talking about a possible tax cut next year.

But GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said it's too early to talk tax cuts.

However, it's not too early to say that Utah's recession — a downturn that caused lawmakers to make up more than $700 million in lost taxes over two years in the early 2000s — is now just a memory:

• The sales tax is up 9 percent over a year ago.

• The personal income tax is up 13.7 percent.

• The corporate income tax is up 29.4 percent.

• Oil and natural gas severance taxes, driven by record gasoline prices and a new oil find in central Utah, are up an amazing 55.5 percent over a year ago.

The news is good across the revenue board, Macdonald said.

Personal income in Utah is exploding. Employers are sending in withholding taxes — the money taken out of paychecks automatically each month — at a rate 17 percent higher than state budget officials estimated.

Income tax refunds, given after the April 15 filing deadline, are lower than anticipated.

And while economists believed the corporate income tax would rebound this year, it's 36 percent more than estimates.

Because Utah has a per-gallon gasoline tax — and with record high prices at the pumps driving down gasoline sales — officials figured the gas tax take would be down by 2.1 percent. It is down, but only by 0.4 percent, Macdonald said. Accordingly, the state is bringing in $7.12 million more in gas tax than officials figured.

Personal income has gone up so much that the state is taking in $95 million more in income taxes than anticipated.