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Show 1( eriy Taxes in Grand County Up I d Percent in Past Eight Years '' , Grand County cent increase during the cis'it year ptriod. . This was noted in the latest late-st analysis of property tax trends in Utah prepared by Utah Foundation, the private pri-vate tax research organization. organiza-tion. ' ' According to the report, school taxes amounted to $493,000 in 10 and $1,063,000 in 19158, a 115.8 per cent increase, in-crease, while property taxes levied by the Grand County government went up 13.1 per cent from $187,000 in 1960 to $211,000 in 1968. The overall over-all average mill levy imposed impos-ed in Grand County rtwe from 61.83 mills ($61.83 per $1,000 assessed valuation) in 1960 to 65.16 mills in 1968. Foundation analysts note that there is a growing "resistance "re-sistance against the pro-pery pro-pery tax and further property pro-perty tax hikes. Over the past twenty years, total pro-pery pro-pery taxes imposed in Utah multiplied more than fourfold. four-fold. Part of this 'increase stems from new properties added to the tax rolls, part has resulted from upward revisions in property valuations val-uations under the equalization equaliza-tion program, and part of the rise comes from higher mill rates. The study points out that much of the frustration and resentment of the generally high total tax burden in Utah and the United States is centered against the property pro-perty tax, because this is . the one tax that most individuals in-dividuals feel they can influence. in-fluence. The rapid increase in property pro-perty tax levies during the years following World War II roughly paralleled ' th growth in Utah public school expenditures, the report observes. ob-serves. A substantial part of, the build up in educational tservices and facilities for the rapidly mounting number num-ber of children in this period was financed from property taxation. J In recent years, however, property tax increases has limited the use of the property proper-ty tax in financing public school expenditure increases The study notes, for example, ex-ample, that between 1960 and 1968 public school current cur-rent expeditures throughout through-out Utah increased 117 per cent compared with a 51 per cent raise in property taxes levied for school purpose. Other taxes, such as the income in-come tax and the sales tax, were increased to meet these rising school costs. Foundation analysts point, out that when a comparison is made of property tax trends during the 60's, would appear that county property taxes in Utah have been rising much more rapidly than those imposed by other oth-er units of government. Between Be-tween 1960-68, county property pro-perty taxes in Utah doubled compared with a 51 per cent increase in school taxes, a 39 per cent rise in municipal munici-pal taxes, and a 57 per cent increase in property taxes for all governmental units during this same period. Further analysis discloses however, that more than three-fourths of the total 1 rise in county taxes between 1960 and 1968 is accounted for by Salt Lake County. Much of the increase in Salt Lake County property taxes during recent years has resulted re-sulted from the expansion of municipal-type services by the county to residents outside out-side incorporated areas. These "municipal - type" services include such items a garbage collection, extended ex-tended police and fire protection, pro-tection, street lighting, health, heal-th, etc. Last year property taxes imposed throughout the state of Utah totaled $136.8 million. mil-lion. Of this sum, $87.5 million, mil-lion, or 64.0 per cent, was levied for school purposes. County property taxes In Utah amounted to $25.0 million mil-lion (18.3 per cent of the total), to-tal), city and town taxes equaled $18.6 million (13.6 per cent), special district Itaxes totaled $5.6 million ((4.1 per cent), and bounty Itaxes were $180,000 in 1968. |
