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Show Utah Ranks 17th in State And Local Tax Burden I'tah ranks 17th among the fifty states in the proportion of personal income going for state and local taxes. This fact was pointed out by Utah Foundation, the private tax research organization or-ganization in their latest comparison of tax systems syst-ems and expenditure I- patterns in Utah, the Mountain States, and the Nation. According to the Foundation analysis, state and local governments govern-ments in Utah collected S446 million in taxes during the 1970-71 fiscal fis-cal year. This sum was equal to 12.95 of personal per-sonal income, a sum identical to the Mountain States average and approximately ap-proximately 6r0 above the U.S. average of 12.2FS. In comparing specific taxes with other states, the study indicates that Utah appears to be moderate mod-erate in the property tax and most of the other major taxes, but somewhat some-what high in the individual individ-ual income tax, especially espec-ially for middle-income taxpayers. For example. ex-ample. Utah ranks first among the eight Mountain Moun-tain States in the state income tax burden for families at the S10.000 and S15.000 gross income in-come levels, second in the burden at the S5.000 and third in the tax burden burd-en at the S20.000 gross income level. Except for gambling taxes, Utah levies all of the major taxes imposed by other states. The Foundation concludes that this broad-type tax coverage requires nearly everyone to participate part-icipate in the financing of governmental services serv-ices without placing a penalty burden on any one group, segment of the economy, or tax source. Utah approximates approxi-mates the Mountain - States average in the proportion of its total state and local tax load coming from each of the three main sources --production, --production, wealth, and consumption. Between 1961 and 1971 total state and local tax collections in Utah rose by 120r5. This increase, however, was not as great as the rise for the United States as a whole (136r;). or the growth in the Mountain States (139"5) during the ten-year period. In 1970-71 state and local expenditures in Utah were equal to S75S million, or S709 for every man. woman and child residing in the state. This amount was below the Mountain States average of S743 per capita and the U.S. average of S753 per capita. cap-ita. Foundation analysts note that approximately 59r; of the expenditures in Utah came from state and local taxes. The remaining re-maining funds were derived de-rived from Federal aid. from fees and charges, and from other miscellaneous miscel-laneous sources. Utah devotes a larger proportion of its total state and local spending to education than most other states. This emphasis em-phasis on education is a reflection of the extremely ex-tremely large number of children to be educated educ-ated in the state. Utah has one of the largest overall educational loads in the nation. The report observes that the stress placed on education educa-tion in Utah has forced state and local units to place lower priorities on some of the other governmental services. For example. Utah allocates al-locates a smaller proportion pro-portion of total state and local spending for such activities as health and hospitals, police protection, fire protection, protec-tion, sanitation, etc. than do most other states. Total state and local spending rose bv 141 between 1961 and 1971. By comparison, state and local expenditures increased by 147r in the eight Mountain States and by 160r-throughout 160r-throughout the United States in the ten-year period. |