There
is no Tax Hike in what we are doing. Signing a Referendum doesn’t
create a new law, or new tax, or new anything. It just puts the bill on
hold until the voters decide it’s fate in the fall.
Major Problems with 2019 SB 2001:
First,
if you raise the cost of vehicle fuel, by increasing the state fuel tax
by 35%, a family driving around town has less money to go to the store
to buy food. These added fuel costs will drive up the cost of goods at
the register as well.
Second, raising
the cost of food by raising the sales tax on food by a 177% Utah tax
increase, means the family has less money to buy food. The State paying
this family back later, doesn’t help. Why should a family making it
without the government be pushed into requiring help?
Third,
by reducing the amount of money going to public and secondary education
by $680 Million, while promising public education will not be hurt,
means they are either going to change the Utah Constitution or the
legislature is going to make sure our property taxes go up, either
directly such as 2015 SB 97 and 2018 HB 293 or indirectly by making the local school boards raise our property tax and those boards getting the blame.
Fourth,
the bill sets up changing the funding of roads by removing the
constitutional required funding from transportation related taxes,
including sales tax, and replacing it with highway user fees and a road
usage charge program.
Fifth, Adding to the increase of services with sales tax, which can drive service type businesses out of the state.
Not
only is raising taxes on food wrong, raising fuel prices bad, taking
money from education questionable, the whole idea of moving all sales
tax money away from roads, as stated above is wrong.
So why do they think we are distorting what the new tax bill says?
What are we saying?
We
are telling people to read the bill, from the legislature’s website,
read the legislature’s own summary/explanation of the bill and the
official fiscal note of the bill.
For
some light reading, don’t miss the $1/2 Billion Higher Education
Funding Shell Game found in the bill, Starting at lines 6579.
I really don’t want to see Part 2 and Part 3 of this Tax Reformation. Let’s Stop the madness Now!! Sign the Referendum.