S.L. chamber unveils plan to create jobs

As the $790 billion federal stimulus package appears poised to clear its final hurdles, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce unveiled a state stimulus plan Thursday that aims to create 60,000 jobs through projects funded with state and federal dollars.

Chamber president Lane Beattie said an alliance of civic and business leaders crafted the $2.4 billion package of proposals aimed at boosting Utah's dire financial straits.

"We're here today because Utah's economy is hurting," Beattie said. "Utah has shed 25,000 jobs in the past 12 months, most of those coming in the second half of the year. We stand before you today as business leaders to offer the Legislature and governor our help and partnership."

The chambers "Can-Do Coalition" circulated a broad financial outline that calls for bonding, using state rainy-day funds, and hiking taxes to generate up to $1 billion in state project funding that they say would result in 30,000 jobs. Another 30,000 jobs would come, according to the chamber's calculations, through an estimated $1.4 billion in federal stimulus help.

Utahns could feel a significant pinch if all of the plan's proposals came to fruition, which include a new 5-cent-per-gallon gas tax, increased vehicle-registration fees, higher taxes on tobacco and cigarettes and reapplying the full 4.7 percent state sales tax on food. Though the re-institution of full state sales tax on food is a move directly opposed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., and one that has received a luke-warm reaction from leaders in both the House and Senate, Beattie said the chamber wants it on a list of considerations.

"The food tax has some very positive aspects and we would like it to be considered, along with other options, as a way to arrest this downward spiral," Beattie said.

E-mail: araymond@desnews.com