From Deseret News archives:
Tax cut coming? Well, it is election year
Utah House members — all 75 seats are up this November — are arguing that GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. should call a special legislative session now to give an immediate $70 million state income tax cut.
Most of the 56 Republicans in the House don't want to wait until the 2007 Legislature to give the tax break.
Calls such as, "It's the people's money, give it back to them" are now routinely being heard on Capitol Hill.
Only 16 Senate seats (out of 29) are up for election this year, and so immediate calls for a tax cut are a bit muted there.
Since all state personal income tax funds go to higher and public education, Democrats, also, have not been as vocal in calls for tax cuts — the minority party has long been a staunch supporter of more spending for public education.
The Utah Constitution says only the governor can call a special session; only he sets the agenda.
Huntsman is not up for re-election until 2008.
And so we see a political stalemate over income taxes this year — the legislators facing voters demanding that the $70 million set aside in the 2006 Legislature for income tax "reform" go back to taxpayers now, Huntsman saying he wants to wait until the "final tuning" of his "flatter, fairer" tax plan are worked out.
One should not be surprised by all this.
Politicians often act like water: They take the path of least resistance.
Some skittish legislators are asking: Reform income taxes? Oh-oh. What if some voters don't like it? What if they start making some noise? What if a few of them band together and oppose my re-election?
The easy answer: Let's just keep the current (admittedly screwed up) personal income tax system and cut the rates just slightly.
Who can argue with that?
As former Gov. Olene Walker noted in announcing her lengthy, in-depth tax reform package in December 2004, the best time for tax reform is when you have healthy tax surpluses — for then you can afford to cut taxes overall, afford to give nearly everyone a tax cut instead of shifting taxes on to some groups that, over the years, really haven't been paying their fair share.
In Utah, those not paying their fair share are, by and large, the wealthy or the super rich.
Because of certain tax exemptions, usually taken by the wealthier, and because Utah's tax system has gone unchanged for inflation for upwards of 30 years, the marginal tax rate (what you really pay) has become warped.
While someone making $500,000 a year certainly pays more money in state income taxes than does someone making $50,000, as a percent of their income the wealthy were paying a slightly lower rate in many cases.
