Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

How can Utahns be taxed so much and still stress-free?

3/31/2022

0 Comments

 
Nationally, the trend is clear. States that tend to vote Republican have less of a tax burden than states that vote Democratic.
Except, that is, for a small handful of red states, and Utah is one of them. 
Utah, according to a new study, has the 15th highest tax burden in the nation. It’s got the third highest among Republican-leaning states, right behind Iowa (13th) and Kansas (14th). 
This is not a top-20 list you want to be a part of.
Now that I have your attention, a bit of perspective is in order. 

Read More
0 Comments

How not to fight inflation at the gas pump

3/24/2022

0 Comments

 
What could be worse than the problem of high-priced gasoline? 
How about politicians and special-interest groups trying to solve it?
The past few days have been chock full of bad ideas floating around.
Worst among these (and that’s a close call) is a bill sponsored by a trio of House Democrats in Washington that would send every American a monthly check when gas averages more than $4 a gallon during the month.
The Gas Rebate Act of 2022, sponsored by Mike Thompson, D-Calif., John Larson, D-Conn., and Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., would give every adult $100, plus $100 for each dependent, per month.

Read More
0 Comments

The House should act now on Daylight Saving Time

3/17/2022

0 Comments

 
I have quipped from time to time that people get passionate about Daylight Saving Time only four days each year — the two days on which we change our clocks and the day after each of those, when we stagger bleary eyed through the motions. After that, we move on to other things.
Timing, as they say in comedy, cooking, a March Madness pick-and-roll and politics, is everything. And our newly reset clocks are ticking.
So, I say to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with all the feeling I can muster: Don’t let the moment pass.

Read More
0 Comments

A gas tax holiday would be a disaster

3/11/2022

0 Comments

 
The memory may seem dim in light of current events, but next month will mark two years since you could fill up your car in Salina, Utah for $1.15 a gallon. 
I didn’t experience that first-hand, but gasbuddy.com told me that was the price at a station just off I-70. In my own neighborhood on that same day, April 23, 2020, I found regular unleaded for $1.89.
Of course, it didn’t matter much. Like me, you were probably quarantined in your home. Few stores were open. You could drive cheap, but where would you go? At the time, I wrote that it was like having the stomach flu and being told you could eat as much as you wanted. 

Read More
0 Comments

Misguided protesters made digital licenses less secure

3/9/2022

0 Comments

 
At one point during a passionate and emotional House committee hearing last month at the Utah Legislature, a woman tried to reassure lawmakers that she and her colleagues in the room were not crazy for opposing a bill concerning digital driver’s licenses.
“We’ve done the research, all right?” she said, as people around her, already admonished against vocal outbursts, nodded or raised their thumbs high in agreement.
Apparently, that research didn’t include actually reading the bill they were opposing

Read More
0 Comments

If the pandemic is over, what have we learned?

3/7/2022

0 Comments

 
A raucous legislative hearing on the final week of the regular session felt like the last-gasp battle in a COVID-19 war that has pitted science against politics and popular, but false, notions about freedom and liberty.
It has, in many ways, been an exhausting two years.
Highway Patrol officers had to drag some people out of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee meeting because they wouldn’t conform to the rules that allow laws to be debated and voted on with civility and order.

Read More
0 Comments

How Russia changed and united Europe overnight

3/2/2022

0 Comments

 
As Bob Dylan said, “The times, they are a-changing.” That is especially true in Scandinavia, as Russia’s war in Ukraine has instilled a new sense of urgency. 
Three years ago, I was having dinner with my family outdoors on a part of Sweden’s Stockholm archipelago — a series of islands that stretch east of the capital city into the Baltic Sea. 
If beauty were a gold mine, this was the motherload, with forested islands and a golden sun shimmering off blue water. My wife, born in Sweden, has cousins with a summer house that features an elevated view of this scene and trail access to the water. Beyond our field of view, the sea opened up, providing boats easy access to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and, ultimately, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Read More
0 Comments

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.