Right now, Waddoups is looking at offering exemptions for three types of taxes — sales, property and income. Because property taxes are paid to counties, the senator said legislators would have to work with local governments on that element of the plan.

Utah State Tax Commissioner Bruce Johnson on Thursday said a sales tax exemption would be the easiest to implement but cautioned against the others, saying income-tax deductions would be particularly hard to implement and track.

For-profit hospitals and medical clinics have long maintained that they, too, provide charity care in their communities without benefiting from any tax breaks. Scott Barlow, CEO of Provo's Central Utah Clinic, told lawmakers Thursday that his clinic offered $1.7 million in charity care in 2005, plus another $30 million in uncompensated care.

"We're proud of the role we play in meeting the needs of the underserved in this state," Barlow said. "Successful businesses give back ... This is done without expectation of reward."

But if rewards are offered, he said, those companies that benefit should "go much further" than those that do not.

Iasis Healthcare, which operates four hospitals in Utah, pays nearly 9 percent of its net profits in uncompensated and charitable care, said Larry Jacobs, Iasis' director of governmental relations. Like most other for-profit hospitals, Iasis provides those services as a community service and would welcome the opportunity to invest more money in charitable programs.

But Jacobs encouraged lawmakers to build regulations into the exemptions, to make sure facilities' savings actually end up making their way to Utah's health-care consumers.

"I would like to hope that there would be something in place to keep us honest so we would give that money back to the hospital so we can provide additional services," he said. "Sometimes people need to be booted in the butt to do the right thing."

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com