Utah's food tax: Should it stay or should it go?

Webb: An enormous issue facing lawmakers next month is whether to eliminate the sales tax on food (at a cost of around $220 million every year to state and local governments) and whether to replace the lost revenue by upping other taxes.

I don't oppose cutting the food tax as long as the revenue is replaced (although a better solution would be to give low-income people a tax credit or a smartcard allowing them to avoid the tax).

But eliminating more than $200 million in annual revenue when the state faces massive education, economic development and transportation needs would be insane. In transportation, for example, local government planning organizations and a legislative task force have identified a very real $3 billion-plus gap between current revenue streams and what the state needs to continue reasonable mobility in the face of explosive growth.

It would be dumb to cut taxes now (a $220 million cut would be about $88 per Utahn) and then have to scramble to find money to make even a modest dent in the transportation deficit.

Who wants a tax cut? Hardly anyone. Citizens aren't clamoring for a tax cut. The business community, as represented by chambers of commerce, flat out doesn't want a tax cut. Local government leaders, who are closest to the people, don't want a tax cut.

Polls show citizens do want improved transportation, both mass transit (especially rail) and highways, and are even willing to pay higher taxes to get it.

If I lived in northern Utah County and had to fight the horrendous traffic there, I'd be calling my legislator and asking, "What are you doing about this mess? You want to give me a tax cut of a few bucks and leave me jammed up on the freeway every morning and afternoon? Keep your tax cut. Fix transportation!"

If I lived on the booming west side of Salt Lake County and learned the Mountain View Corridor won't be built for 25 years, I'd be asking my legislator similar questions. Ditto if I lived in Washington County with its dramatic growth and shortage of infrastructure money.

While my betting for BYU over the U. hasn't gone well lately, I'll bet Frank an Orrin Hatch music CD that if voters were asked on the 2006 ballot if they preferred education and transportation funding or removing the sales tax on food, the tax cut would lose in a landslide. Remember 1990, when Merrill Cook put the food tax cut on the ballot and voters rejected it?

What will be the greatest political legacy — cutting taxes by $88? Or putting together a transportation system that serves the needs of our children and grandchildren, keeps commerce flowing and the economy strong?