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

Tax reform: Why is Utah picking winners and losers?

11/12/2019

0 Comments

 
Conservatives like to warn against government tax policies that pick winners and losers, so it seems a bit curious that the Utah Legislature’s Tax Restructuring and Equalization Task Force, controlled by Republicans, has spent the past several weeks doing just that.
​

What began as an effort to extend sales taxes to services has now become an effort in picking who gets hit and who doesn’t.
The latest list came out this week. Portrait photographers no longer are on the tax list. Non-emergency veterinary care and pet boarding are. Sightseeing bus companies would be taxed, but tour operators would not. Parking lots and garage owners would pay, but automobile driving schools would not. Body piercing, tanning and dating services would be taxed, but sports and recreation instruction would not. Roofers, plumbers and other people who do household fixups would be taxed, but only for work that’s considered maintenance and repair, not a capital improvement.
The list goes on. All I can say is, thank goodness the task force was sensible enough to exempt newspaper publishing.
I’m joking, of course, but only a little. I could give you an impassioned speech as to why newspaper sales should not be taxed, but the truth is, the owners of every type of business on the list could give such a speech and make it quite convincing.
Not surprisingly, several such people showed up at the task force’s last meeting on Nov. 7. A veterinarian was there. “I’m very concerned that my profession is being singled out,” he said, noting wryly that the number of attorneys, accountants and real estate agents are far greater than the number of veterinarians. 
The same ratio exists in the Legislature, which may be why attorneys, accountants and real estate agents aren’t on the list to be taxed. 
Taxes don’t just affect businesses. They affect their customers.
A representative of Enterprise Rental Car argued that car rental customers already are taxed at 17% and would have to pay 18.5% under the latest proposal. Hotels and restaurants are taxed much less, he said.
Half of the state’s car rental customers are Utah residents who need a car when they have had an accident of need a big repair. But if you’re a tourist and you rent at the airport, the tax already is more than 40%, which drives a lot of people to use Uber and Lyft instead, he said, adding, “I don’t know why we target and hate these customers so much.”
Hate is such an ugly word. Utah lawmakers are motivated by a variety of things. Hate tends to rise only when the federal government is involved. Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, told the Deseret News the task force tried to look at which services were really needed, and which were optional purchases.
But, of course, that list can be subjective, too. Hillyard said he supports taxing veterinary services because he and his wife have lived just fine for 55 years without a dog. I’m guessing other people would consider veterinary care less of an option.
I don’t envy those who are in charge of this tax-reform exercise. No matter where they squeeze the tax balloon, some other part will begin to bulge. 
And yet, they seem adept at making things particularly difficult on themselves. The latest proposal calls for cutting the state’s flat income tax rate from 4.95% to 4.58%, responding to a public clamor that no one has yet heard.
Right now, the state constitution requires that every penny of income tax go toward public and higher education, but the long-term plan is to ask taxpayers to vote to change that, allowing lawmakers to use that money for other things.
In the meantime, however, educators see a tax cut that would reduce the money available to them immediately, while hearing assurances that lawmakers eventually will find an alternate funding source for them … somewhere.
Drivers — which means just about every adult — are in a similar fix. A new sales tax on gas is described as temporary, but it doesn’t, as yet, come with an expiration date.
People tend to respect fairness, even if it involves taxes. Picking which businesses pay and which don’t doesn’t meet that definition. Neither do vague promises that problems will be fixed.
As a conservative might say, these things make credible tax reform a lot harder.
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.