Food-tax cut misguided

Rep. Kay McIff hit the nail on the head in his op-ed piece last Sunday. Cutting the sales tax on food was a well-meaning but misguided attempt to provide tax relief to the poor.

A much better and simpler solution would be to provide a fixed rebate to every legal Utah resident equal to the sales tax on all consumption below the poverty line.

As a result there would effectively be no tax at the subsistence level, on food or anything else.

It would give an appropriate tax break precisely where it is needed without pushing the state into the red. A similar approach to tax reform has already been proposed in a bill at the federal level, the FairTax Act.

Ron Hilton

Volunteer State Director, Utah Americans for Fair Taxation

Holladay