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Show Automobile Tax In Utah Above Average Total taxes imposed on aut-I aut-I omobiies in Utah are relatively relative-ly nign wnen compared with ucior Mountain aiates arm 1 cue United states as a whoie. Tis was the general conclusion conclu-sion readied in a Utan oun-uduon oun-uduon analysis of a liioS survey sur-vey of road-user and property ta-ves on selected motor vehicles ve-hicles prepared earlier this year by the U. S. Bureau of public rtoads. According to the Utah Foundation Foun-dation report, total state and local taAes (gasoline, registration, regis-tration, properly, etc.) on a typical lJbfj model of a small imported passenger cai amounts to $00 in Utah, com pared with an average of $4J in the Mountain States and $52 in the United States. Utah ranked 15th among the fifty states in the tax burden on this type of motor vehicle. The total tax burden on a medium weight passenger car (1966 model) is equal to $99 in Utah, $79 in the Mountain States, and $83 in the natioi as a whole. Utah has the 12t highest tax burden in the U.L for this type of vehicle. For a heavy passenger car the taxes average $172 in Utah, $125 in the eight Moun tain States, and $128 in th United States. Utah's rank fo this vehicle was 7th amon. the fifty states. Although the state and 1' cal taxes imposed in Utah o passenger automobiles a' relatively high when com pared with other states, th report notes that the total ta load on most trucks is aver age or somewhat below re gional and national averager Foundation analysts poin' out that the comparisons x elude Federal taxes but in elude state and local propert; taxes levied on the motor vehicles. ve-hicles. In most states, proper taxes have little or no dire relationship to highway use and revenues from this source usually are not earmarked fo: highway purposes. The collection col-lection of property taxes on motor vehicles, however, is I closely associated with pay-I pay-I ment of vehicle registration j fees. The property . tax com ' prises a substantial portion of the total taxes paid on motor I vehicles in many of the states, I Including Utah. The Utah Foundation anal I ysts observe that total state j highway-user tax collections (excluding propery taxes) in all fifty states during the 1967 fiscal year amounted to $7.2 billion. This sum was equal to 22.4 of all state tax collections col-lections for the year. If all highway taxes collected by Federal, state, and local governmental gov-ernmental units are included, the total would exceed $15 billion per year. These funds ara used mainly to plan, construct, con-struct, and maintain the nation's na-tion's highway system. |