From Deseret News archives:
Dual Utah tax system?
Utahns may get 2 choices on income tax
"This is a great chance for the state to move to a progressive tax system," said Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, on Monday.
After a House GOP caucus last month a caucus that showed that Huntsman's so-called "H3" flatter-rate tax reform plan was "deader than a fried chicken," as one House Republican put it Huntsman and GOP legislative leaders started looking for a compromise.
All 75 House seats are up for re-election this November. And since the 2006 Legislature adopted a $70 million income-tax cut this year but failed to adopt a plan on how to return that money, there is political pressure to reach some kind of compromise so the $70 million cut can become law by Election Day.
Harper, who co-chaired an exhaustive tax-reform task force last year, said the bifurcated plan "just makes sense."
Huntsman deputy chief of staff Mike Mower said Monday night that the new compromise "moves us a great distance to our goal of a more competitive tax system and one that secures education funding."
"I think the dual system has real merit," said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, who added he believes there could be 38 votes, a majority, in his GOP House caucus alone enough to secure passage even if Democrats don't agree.
But Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, said he hopes to get "at least half of the Democrats (in the Legislature) to support this. It's a fair compromise, can really help some lower-income Utahns" by giving them a chance to pick a tax system that will save them money.
As one House Republican, who asked not to be identified, said Saturday during the Salt Lake County GOP convention: "This is a political win-win for everyone how can you object to a compromise where every Utahn can decide which tax system he pays?"
But Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said such a two-prong system could be confusing to operate and difficult for state budgeters to determine how much income tax will actually come in.
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