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Show Impact of federal spending in Utah declines The impact of federal spending in Utah has declined markedly during the 1970s and now is significantly below the national and the Mountain States averages. This was the message contained in an analysis of federal expenditures in Utah by Utah Foundation, the private research organization. According to the study, federal expenditures ex-penditures in Utah during the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 1981, totaled $3,334,788,000 or about $2,200 for every man, woman and child residing in the state. This amount was 10 percent below the U.S. average of $2,451 per capita and 12 percent under the Mountain Moun-tain States average of $2,510. By comparison, com-parison, per capita federal expenditures expen-ditures in Utah during 1970 were 22 percent greater than the U.S. average. Not only has Utah's relative share of federal spending been declining, but its share of the federal tax burden has been rising. In 1970 Utah paid about 0.38 percent of all federal taxes collected. col-lected. By 1982 this percentage had increased in-creased to 0.50 percent. In other words, Utah is paying a proportionately proportionate-ly larger percentage of all federal taxes collected in the U.S., while it is the beneficiary of a proportionately smaller share of all federal spending. Foundation analysts attribute the relative decline in federal spending within Utah to programs involving direct payments to individuals. Despite the fact that Utah has 0.66 percent per-cent of the nation's population, Utah residents receive only 0.41 percent of all Social Security (including Medicare) payments. This smaller percentage in Utah is accounted for by the fact that the state has basically a young population. Only 7.6 percent' of Utah's population is age 65 or over, compared with 11.6 percent for the nation na-tion as a whole. Another factor responsible for the smaller direct payment total in Utah is that Utahns do not avail themselves of federal assistance programs to the same extent as residents of other states. During fiscal 1981, Utah residents received only 0.22 percent of the total federal funds allocated for supplemental income payments and 0.27 percent of the funds for food stamps. Utah continues to be heavily impacted im-pacted by expenditures for national defense. Federal defense expenditures within Utah totaled $1,003 million, or $700 per capita, compared with per capita defense expenditures of $H6(i for the nation as a whole. In the nondefen.se area, however, federal expenditures ex-penditures of $1,406 per capita were almost 15 percent below the U.S. average of $1,717 per capita, 4 The Foundation report indicates that Utah's share of the taxes required to finance all federal spending during the 1981 fiscal year totaled $3.3 billion. This was almost the same amount expended ex-pended by the federal government within Utah during the year. In other words, Utah realized very little, if any, net gain from federal operations in the state. The federal expenditure total includes in-cludes federal aid to state and local governments, salary and wage disbursements in the state, direct payments to individuals, and other federal programs. Not included are amounts that could not be allocated by state or territory, such as interest on the general debt, foreign aid, and expenditures ex-penditures for selected federal agencies agen-cies (Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.) In addition to direct expenditures, the Foundation report notes that the federal government also guarantees certain loans and provides insurance protection for mortgages, property improvements im-provements and crops. While these items are not actual outlays, they could result in federal expenditures at some future date in case of default or claim. During the 1981 fiscal year, federal loan guarantees and insurance programs totaled $76.7 billion, of which Utah's share amounted to $1,286 million, or 1.68 percent of the total for all states. |