House and Senate spar over tax cuts

Huntsman's office takes a swipe at the GOP

House Republicans and GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. increased the pressure Friday on the Senate majority to go along with a compromise package of tax cuts that includes taking the sales tax off food.

The governor's office went so far as to accuse Senate Republicans of being more interested in backing tax breaks for big business than in helping Utahns with their grocery bills.

And House leaders complained the Senate GOP backed away from an earlier agreement by publicly rejecting the compromise they said was reached earlier this week. The compromise would have allowed the Senate and House GOP leaders to begin talking about specifics of a tax reform package, something which is now pushed into the final full week of the session.

"We were trying to find common ground," House Majority Leader Jeff Alexander, R-Provo, said. "We've been willing all along to work with these proposals, but we haven't even started discussing them."

The tax-cutting package, which includes reducing the top income tax rate from 7 percent to 5 percent as well as the removal of the state's share of the sales tax on food, isn't dead yet, according to both the governor's office and House leaders. To keep both proposals alive, House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said he met with Huntsman Friday to develop a joint strategy to get the tax cuts through the Legislature this year.

"Normally, the Senate and the House work together — but that doesn't seem to be working," he said. "The governor is committed to doing the people's business and giving individuals a tax cut, so we're working with him."

While the House and governor bluntly chided senators and moved closer to a joint position, the Senate responded to the criticism by digging in their heels and substituting language in a House bill to only lower income tax rates by about .25 percent. That would amount to a $100 million cut that Senate GOP leaders said should make it clear they wouldn't deal with taking the sales tax off food.

"This is a serious message that we're sending that we want tax cuts," Senate Majority Leader Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City, said. "We have agreement in this body. Now, something else may come forth before we leave this session. But if nothing else does, what we have makes a very strong statement."

The maneuver was seen, however, as a stop-gap measure until their own version of the tax-cut package is ready. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said the bill he's crafting will include an income tax credit for the sales taxes paid on food as well as elements of the governor's tax reform plan.

"I think we've got the votes to move tax reform," Bramble said.

Curtis, when told of the Senate move, said that the slight reduction was the first time he had seen any plan for the Senate's position of $100 million for tax cuts, which the Senate Republicans took about a week into the session. The House has called for $230 million in tax cuts since before the session began, and both sides have staunchly stuck by their respective tax cut numbers throughout negotiations.

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