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Show Utah Ranks 15th In Tgx Burden h Nation, Fsundaflon Reports Utah janked 15th among the fifty states in the proportion pro-portion cf personal income going for state and local taxes tax-es last year. This was pointed point-ed out in a study comparing Utah's tax burden prepared by Utah Foundation, the private pri-vate tax research organization. organiza-tion. The Foundation's report shows thai state and local tax collections in Utah during dur-ing tlit 1968 fiscal year amcun.pd to $328 million and was equal to 12.29 percent of the total personal income reeeiv-d by individuals Idling Idl-ing the preceding calendar year. This percentage ws considerably above the U. S. average of 11.26 per cent but -was slightly below the Mountain Moun-tain States average of 12 41 per cert. The study emphasized that the comparison was based on state and local taxes i'St the fiscal year ended June 30, 1968, and did not reflect tax changes enacted by legislative leg-islative bodies in 1969. In Utah, for example, the 1969 Legislature raised both the state sales tax and the gasoline gas-oline tax. Foundation analysts noie that if the 1969 tax increases had beer in effect throughout through-out the 1968 fiscal year, state and local tax collections collec-tions in Utah would have been $24.2 million greater than the amount actually reported. re-ported. This increase would have made Utah's state and local tax burden equal to 13.19 per cent of total personal per-sonal income. The study cautions, however, how-ever, that a number of other states across the nation also raised taxes this year. As a result, it is impossible to ascertain what effect the 1969 tax adjustments will have on state rankings until all of the changes can bs evaluated. ' According to the report, most tax authorities agree that the most meaningful tax comparison is obtained when taxes are related to personal income. Since taxes tax-es eventually must be paid cut cf income (either past, or future), the proportion of personal income going for state and local taxes usually is regarded as the best overall over-all measure of a state's relative rel-ative tax burden. The Foundation, however, presents a number of other measures of tax effort. It noted, for example, that state sta-te and local tax collections per capita in Utah amounted amount-ed to .$321 last year, which was somewhat below the U. S. average of $356 and the Mountain States average of $350. Because of the unusually large proportion of Utah's population that is outside the normal productive, tax-paying tax-paying age bracket, per capita cap-ita comparisons do not present pre-sent a valid measure of Utah's relative tax burden. In Utah state and local taxes tax-es per person in the 21 to 64 age group were equal to $705 compared with an average of $720 for the Mountain States and $743 for all fifty fif-ty states. Still another measure of the relative tax burden is the amount of tax per family fam-ily or household. Last year, state and local taxes in Utah amounted to $1,147 per household, compared with $1,189 for the Mountain States and also for the United Unit-ed States as a whole. |