Matthew Weinstein: The high price of lower taxes in Utah
The Legislature should have other priorities than ‘the year of the tax cut.’
(Rick Bowmer | AP file photo)
In this Aug. 20, 2020, photo, the Utah House of Representatives convenes for a special session of the Legislature at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City.
By Matthew Weinstein | Special to The Tribune
| March 1, 2021, 11:30 p.m.
Legislative leaders have said that 2021 should be “the year of the tax cut.” Numerous public opinion surveys show that Utahns disagree. This may come as a surprise to policymakers, who have been in the habit of handing out tax break after tax break for decades. But there seems to be an increasing public awareness that Utah is now paying a price for decades of tax cutting that have left us with the lowest overall tax level in 50 years relative to Utah personal income.
SALT LAKE CITY The question of whether the government or even your boss should be able to order you to take the COVID-19 vaccine sparked debate on Utah s Capitol Hill as the Legislature nears the end of its 2021 session.
With one week to go, lawmakers have passed almost 200 bills and resolutions out of more than 700 filed. Of those, three involving nearly $100 million in targeted tax cuts focusing on families and retirees are advancing after legislative leaders detailed plans to help return to Utahns some of the surplus money the state is seeing.
One controversial bill that apparently will not advance would ban transgender athletes from competing in girls sports in Utah s public schools. A Senate committee held the bill in a meeting late Wednesday.
Deseret News
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Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY The question of whether the government or even your boss should be able to order you to take the COVID-19 vaccine sparked debate on Utah’s Capitol Hill as the Legislature nears the end of its 2021 session.
With one week to go, lawmakers have passed almost 200 bills and resolutions out of more than 700 filed. Of those, three involving nearly $100 million in targeted tax cuts focusing on families and retirees are advancing after legislative leaders detailed plans to help return to Utahns some of the surplus money the state is seeing.
SALT LAKE CITY Ongoing issues regarding Big Tech firms like Amazon, Apple and Facebook and how they wield market power and handle troves of personal data is not sitting well with residents across the country and particularly so in Utah, where many have expressed their marked distrust of those firms in a new poll.
And the same Utahns are only slightly less distrustful of their federal and state governments, though willing to extend a bit more faith to local government leaders.
These findings are all part of a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll of 1,000 Utah registered voters. The survey was conducted Feb. 10-16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.