Tax Freedom Day in Utah comes 2 days later this year

WASHINGTON — It is undoubtedly a depressing week for Utah taxpayers: Not only is the tax man due his pound of flesh by Friday, every penny earned by Utahns through Thursday was needed to satisfy their 2005 tax obligations, an annual review by the Tax Foundation shows.

Nationally, Tax Freedom Day falls two days later, April 17. That means the share of income going for state and federal taxes continues to rise.

"Despite all the tax cuts that the federal government has passed recently, Americans will still spend more on taxes than they spend on food, clothing and medical care combined," said Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge.

The only silver lining, it seems, is that Tax Freedom Day comes earlier in Utah than it does in 25 other states, even though the state has the eighth-highest state and local tax burden in the nation at 10.9 percent.

Why has the tax burden gotten heavier if Congress has cut taxes in recent years? Economic growth has put people into higher tax brackets so tax collections are growing faster than incomes, Hodge said.

What can be done about that? The members of Utah's congressional delegation have differing views:

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, a leader of the fiscally conservative BlueDog Democrats, is not particularly impressed with how Congress spends tax revenue, nor with efforts to make sure the money is being spent properly.

For example, Matheson said, the Department of Defense has 63 different agencies, and 57 of them cannot explain how the money is being spent.

"I think Congress is not conducting oversight of where tax money is going, and the Executive Branch is not either," he said. "Taxpayers should expect more and Congress should be demanding more."

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, said most of the money divvied up by Congress is for mandatory programs such as Social Security and Medicaid that Congress has no real control over. In reality, Congress controls only one out of every three dollars spent by the federal government.

Bennett added, however, that he is actually confident taxpayers are getting their money's worth when it comes to defense spending, highways and income supports for the poor.

Of all the people who parade through his office every year, few if any come to tell him Congress should be spending less money on certain programs. They come seeking more and more money for pet projects, he said.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, winces at the thought Republicans are at the helm at a time when federal spending has reached an all-time high.