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Show Utah Government Declared Biggest Business by Utah Tax Foundation Government has become the largest single "business" in Utah, according to a report released this week by Utah Foundation, the private non-profit tax research organization. organiza-tion. The foundation report points out that "The three levels le-vels of government (Federal, state and local) operating in Utah employ more persons than does any other segment seg-ment of the State's economy. Moreover, the total tax bur den in Utah is greater than the, new wealth created by any one of t he three principal economic producers pro-ducers agriculture, mining, or manufacturing." Utahns paid $383,2(56,000 in Federal, state and local taxes during the l'J.vl fiscal year (June 30). according to Utah Foundation Founda-tion estimates. These taxes are equivalent to an average tax burden bur-den of $514 for every man, woman wo-man and child in the state. Thus, the average Utah family of four paid a total of $2,0. in direct and hidden taxes during the year. Hidden Taxes Important While direct taxes make up only about one-half of the total tax burden for individuals, foundation foun-dation analysts state that hidden hid-den or indirect taxes have become be-come an increasingly important part of the purchase price of everything that an individual may buy. For example, recent surveys have disclosed that an ordinary loaf of bread may contain con-tain as many as separate indirect in-direct taxes hidden in its purchase pur-chase price. Last year, approximately 3ic out of every dollar earned by Utahns was required to make tax payments for the support of government. According to the foundation report, most of this rise has occurred in Federal taxes. tax-es. An encouraging note mentioned men-tioned by the foundation was that a deccline in the Federal tax burden Is expected during the present (195")) fiscal year as a result of recent Federal tax reductions. re-ductions. Shift in Responsibility The study relates that there has been a decided tendency to shift tlic responsibility for financing fi-nancing certain government functions from lower to higher level le-vel of government during the past 2.r)-years. Federal taxes accounted ac-counted for about 22 per cent of the total tax burden in 1030; this percentage increased to 71 per cent by lPo-t. "Nearly one out of every four non-agricultural employees in Utah now works for some unit of government," the report continues. contin-ues. In September, 1951, government govern-ment employees in Utah (Federal, (Feder-al, state and local including school) was 51,700 out of total non-agricultural employment of 218,000. Utah's economy relies more on government income payments (salaries, benefits, subsidies, etc.) than is the case generally throughout the nation. Last year, 23 6 per cent of the total income payments received by individuals in Utah were derived from government. gov-ernment. This percentage is M per cent greater than the national nation-al average and Is exceeded by only two other states, Virginia and New Mexico). In comparing the tax burden with new wealth created in Utah, the foundation reports that the total tax burden during fiscal 1954 was $383.3 million. Estl-mates Estl-mates for the 1953 calender year Indicate that the value of all Utah mineral production at the mine wns 259.3 million, the value added by manufacturing equaled equal-ed $250 million, and cash receipts from farm marketings totaled $153.9 millions. |