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

Tax reform veto is doomed to fail

12/18/2019

0 Comments

 
One group will count on volunteers to gather the signatures needed to overturn Utah’s new tax reform law. The other group says that’s naive and promises to use paid signature gatherers; but it admits that, as yet, it has no money.
Naive is as naive does, I suppose. But if both efforts go forward as described in a Deseret News report Tuesday, I wouldn’t count on seeing a tax reform veto on your 2020 ballot, no matter how angry you may feel about it.
The road to a citizens’ veto in Utah is already hard enough. Why complicate it further?
By law, signature gatherers have until Jan. 21 to gather approximately 116,000 signatures from registered voters. Those signatures must be spread proportionate to 8% of active voters in 15 of the state’s 29 counties.
Granted, that’s not as hard as the threshold for ballot initiatives, which require signatures from 26 of the state’s 29 Senate districts, but the short deadline means it requires concentration and dedication, not confusion.
Let’s review how we got here: Legislative leaders and the governor said Utah had to reform its tax structure because the economy is changing and sales tax receipts were not growing as quickly as income tax receipts.
Faced with this, lawmakers first talked about spreading the sales tax to cover previously untaxed services, then lowering the overall rate. But by the time the public, special interests and political considerations were through with it, the final reform package included new sales taxes on only a handful of insignificant or dwindling items (newspaper sales? Really? That’s going to increase receipts?), and two large regressive sales tax hikes.
One of those was an increase in the state’s portion of grocery taxes from 1.75% to 4.85% — guaranteeing higher food prices for everyone, but especially those whose incomes are low but not low enough to qualify for assistance. 
The other was a sales tax on gasoline, equaling about 12 cents more per gallon. Not only is this regressive, it has little long-term impact given the rise of alternative-fueled vehicles and fuel-efficient engines.
Lawmakers did provide some grocery credits for the poor, one-time checks and an increase in dependent exemptions. They also cut the income tax by 0.29%, which primarily benefits the wealthy.
Two groups, one led by former Republican lawmaker Fred Cox, and the other called The People’s Right, have submitted separate petitions for a citizens’ referendum to veto this reform package. Cox’s group is relying on volunteers and is using social media. The other hopes to attract donors, quickly, to pay signature gatherers who can work, again, quickly.
Utah is one of only 23 states that give its people veto power, but lawmakers have made sure it isn’t easy to exercise. 
That’s for good reason. In a republic, people elect representatives to study issues and make decisions on their behalf. Make citizen vetoes too easy and you lapse into a form of direct democracy that can paralyze government.
But make it too hard and you may unwittingly give disproportionate power to wealthy interests for protecting themselves.
In 2007, the last time Utahns successfully exercised their veto power, it was an effort led by the Utah Education Association to overturn a private-school voucher law. The UEA had the help of the powerful National Education Association, which contributed about $3 million to the cause. 
This time, the UEA is staying out of the fight. Even though the tax reform bill directly hurts education funding by cutting the income tax, educators are counting on promises that lawmakers will find more money for them somewhere once the 2020 legislative session begins.
Besides, which effort would they join? 
That leaves poor- to moderate-income people and their advocates — not exactly a group tailor made to pull something like this off.
I have an obvious suggestion for the two groups: Join forces. 
Acting separately, they have no chance. People who sign one petition will tell the other group they’ve already signed. Confusion is not an asset. This is like running for office and discovering someone else with your name also is on the ballot.
Even without confusion, this citizen veto is a long-shot, at best. Duplicating efforts makes it impossible.

​
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    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

    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.