GOP House members won't take no-tax pledge

SALT LAKE CITY — You won't see conservative Utah House members signing a pledge not to raise taxes next year.

In a daylong, closed caucus Monday, the 53 GOP House members talked about a number of issues, including budget and taxes. But no votes were taken, and House leaders say there will not be a "no taxes" sign-up sheet in the House, like one being passed around among Republicans in the state Senate.

That's not to mean House Republicans want to raise taxes. Most don't, says House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara. "But it is too early to make that decision," Clark said.

"In the past, sometimes we've hurt ourselves" by taking rigid budget stands before the 45-day general session even starts, said House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton. The 2010 session begins Jan. 25.

While GOP leaders really like the 2010-11 budget plan Gov. Gary Herbert announced last week, "there are still tweaks" to be made to it, Clark said.

And some of those tweaks could involve policy questions on taxes, including whether to raise the state's tobacco tax to combat smoking's health care costs, the two leaders said.

Proponents and opponents of tax hikes had their say in the closed caucus. But no decisions will be made for some time, the leaders said.

And some budget decisions, including tax hikes, may wait until late February, when legislators get updated tax revenue forecasts for the current budget year ending June 30, 2010, and the next fiscal year.

House Republicans talked about a broad range of issues:

 Utah's tax and budget forecasts and impacts. "We have a ways to go before we recover" economically and in tax revenues, Garn said.

The leaders repeated a joke told by House Budget Chairman Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley, who fell from a ladder and broke his arm while putting up Christmas lights on his house: "When I hit the ground, I wasn't thinking about my recovery." And it's a little early to talk about economic recovery in the 2010 Legislature.

 Health care. Clark, who has longed worked on the issue, said that Utah is still poised to be a leader in private exchanges helping the uninsured.