Utah records $100 million in red ink

Utah state government is more than $100 million in the red for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Don't worry. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and legislators won't be looking to raise your taxes any time soon — although a state gasoline tax hike may be coming next year or in 2010 to generate bond revenue for rebuilding I-80 in Salt Lake County and I-15 in Utah County.

The state still has plenty of money set aside to cover the shortfalls from last fiscal year. Huntsman and GOP lawmakers have prided themselves in conservative budgeting the past several years, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in tax surpluses.

Still, for GOP officeholders running for re-election this year, having that much red ink is embarrassing as they try to sell voters on their administration of state government.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Springmeyer said the $92 million in red ink "is a big number. It shows the Huntsman flat tax is a fraud."

And these new revenue numbers, where the personal income-tax collections are under estimates, show that "this kind of tax cut for the wealthy can't be sustained — you can't adequately fund public education" with the new personal income-tax system, Springmeyer added.

The State Tax Commission's year-end report shows that in the tax sources that feed the state's General Fund and Education Fund, revenues are $91.79 million under estimates. (The state's budgeting process is complicated, but in general, lawmakers and Huntsman have to adopt a budget that balances with revenues.)

The state's Transportation Fund is $20.34 million short in revenue collections, the new report shows.

"We'll get through this next year, and we'll be fine," Huntsman said. He and lawmakers budgeted wisely last general session, he added. "We had a high end and a low end, and this is closer to the low end of our expectations."

The governor said Utah is dealing with a difficult economy. "We're up against a tough environment. While our state is doing better than most every state in America, we're still finding the environment to be a very tough one. So are families everywhere," he said.

A national legislative group this week released its annual budget study that shows many states are in fiscal trouble, with some having employee layoffs, hiring freezes and face billions of dollars (in total) in red ink.