Senate OKs 'omnibus' tax bill

Even though lawmakers are expected to give Utahns $220 million in tax cuts next year, a few well-to-do residents of the state will actually end up paying more income taxes.

The Senate passed what has become the "omnibus" tax bill Monday afternoon 27-2 — and then said that if the bill is approved by the House, a special session of the Legislature will have to be called to finalize some details.

Two Senate Democrats voted against SB223, complaining that they had little time to consider the GOP majority compromise, which reduces a number of taxes including that charged on food and cable TV services.

"In 20 minutes we have just passed the biggest tax change in our history," Senate Assistant Minority Whip Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, said after the vote. "I think everything's been thrown together so quickly."

Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, downplayed the need for a special session to repeal the existing tax code and said that did not indicate the tax plan was put together hastily.

"Ideally, this would have been reached much earlier in the session," Bramble said of the compromise with House leaders on tax cuts, hammered out in a series of late-night and weekend meetings behind closed doors. "It's very difficult to find consensus."

Both Bramble and Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, labeled the tax-cut compromise "historic" and said it has been in the works for the three years lawmakers have been working on tax reform.

"This historic moment will be one we will look back to and say to ourselves that we did something that meant something," Valentine said, acknowledging there is still some "fine-tuning" to do.

It's up to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to decide whether to call lawmakers back, and his spokesman, Mike Mower, said the governor will determine whether one is needed after the bill reaches his desk.

Mower said he wasn't concerned the bill might have been put together too fast. "Tax reform has been front and center for the governor and the Legislature for the past three years," he said.

And while GOP House leaders have more than a majority to pass the tax cut measure today, similar concerns about the compromise were raised in an open caucus Monday.

Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, has been studying various income tax changes for two years — part of the time as co-chair of a special Task Reform Task Force.