Utah lawmakers consider axing food sales tax

The task force has just finished a weeklong trip around Utah holding public hearings about a whole slew of possible tax reform ideas. Public support for removing food tax was voiced at the hearings but wasn't regarded or presented by task force members as a serious reform option. At the Oct. 19 hearing in Salt Lake, Urquhart stated his support for removing the food tax but was noncommittal when asked if he would sponsor a bill.

"What we heard in those hearings — and what my constituents are telling me — is do something about the food tax. Get rid of it," said Urquhart, who next year is challenging U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch for the GOP Senate nomination.

Other members of the task force were skeptical about the impacts on the state's revenues and worried that such a proposal would hamper efforts to lower business input taxes that Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said were essential for stimulating the economy. "I would rather focus out attention on the things which have the biggest bang for their buck," Stephenson said.

Rep. Todd Kiser, R-Sandy, said that because food is one of the biggest costs for large families, they could be one of the biggest beneficiaries. "This would be a very family friendly thing to do . . . the elimination of the sales tax on food would somewhat soften some of the other things that could hurt large families."

The proposal also was met with mixed response from advocacy groups present at the meeting. Advocates for the poor strongly favor it, while the Utah League of Cities and Towns and the Utah Association of Counties are strongly opposed without some sort of mitigation for the revenue losses.

There was also concern from Utah Issues, however, that focusing efforts on the complete removal of the sales tax could push the tax credit aside and that the end result will be nothing gets done.

The group's fiscal analyst Sarah Wilhelm suggested instead that both proposals be forwarded to the full Legislature.

"Low-income advocates have been working to remove the food tax for 30 years," she said. "We supported the tax credit because we thought it was better to get a half-loaf now instead of maybe getting a whole loaf later, and I would hate to see nothing pass this year."

For 30 years or more various politicians have talked about repealing the sales tax on food.

Supporters even got such a removal on the 1990 ballot for citizens to vote on. But a group of political, business and education leaders fought the initiative, with, ironically, a then-fresh-faced Mike Leavitt leading the opposition, saying public education would be harmed if the state lost so much money so quickly. Leavitt won the governorship in 1992 and also talked about some day removing the sales tax from food, if only a way could be found without harming public education funding.