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Show U!ah Is Eleventh Ranked In National Tax Burden Utah ranks eleventh among all the states of the nation in the proportion of its personal Income going for .state and local taxes. ' I This fact was reported by Utah i-'oundation, the private tax research organization in their latest analysis of state and local tax burdens in the fiity states. Data used In this study were obtained from a recent report of the Governments Govern-ments Division of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. According to the Foundation analysis the total state and local tax burden in Utah during dur-ing the 1965-60' fiscal year totaled nearly $300 million. This included all general taxes plus unemployment compensation compensa-tion taxes and liquor monopoly monop-oly profits obtained in lieu of special liquor taxes. State and local tax collections collec-tions received during the 1965-66 1965-66 fiscal year were equal to 12.77 of Utah's total personal person-al income for the 1965 calendar calen-dar year. The study notes that this percentage was considerably consider-ably above the U.S. average of 11.23, and that Utah ranked eleventh among the futy states by this measure of the tax burden. Foundation analysts point out that most tax authorities agree that the most meaningful meaning-ful comparison of the tax burden bur-den is obtained by relating taxes to personal income. They note that taxes as a percentage percent-age of personal income has become the most widely recognized re-cognized and accepted measure mea-sure of a state's relative tax burden, since all taxes ultimately ulti-mately must be paid from in-come--either past, present, or future. The Foundation analysis, however, does relate state and local tax collections to total population and to population in the working-age brackets. Total state and local taxes In Utah last year averaged $302 for every man, woman, and child . residing in the State. This compares with per capita state and local tax collections col-lections of $310 for the nation as a whole. Utah, however, has an abnormally ab-normally high proportion of its population in the pre-working and post-working age brackets. brack-ets. The Foundation report shows that approximately 54.6 of Utah's loa' no a- 1 tion, were either under 21 or 65 years of age and over. This was the fourth highest per-rentage per-rentage in the nation and ompareB with a U.S. average of 50.4 in these age categories. cate-gories. When state and local taxes are related to persons in the normal tax producing age groups (21-6-1), then Utah is found to be above the national nation-al average. In fiscal 1966, state and local taxes in Utah were equal to $665 per person in group, compared with $625 for the nation as a whole. |