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Show department of Publicity Clarifies Source of P.svenue ';t?nHifUSi0 a n d misunderstanding misunder-standing have developed because be-cause of the efforts of certain groups to take from this De partment its present source of revenue, the surplus from motor mo-tor vehicle license fees, which now supports our activities and projects as assigned by legislative legisla-tive act. These groups represent repre-sent the trucking, automobile, gasoline and other industries whose specific interests lie in through-state highways. In the hope of clarifying this misunderstanding, we have prepared pre-pared a condensed statement of fact, contained in this letter, and have attached thereto an amplification of each statement. state-ment. We hope that each of these statements, with its accompanying ac-companying amplification, will be carefully scrutinized. If this is done, we are confident that the continued use of the funds in quesuun uy me uepartmem of Publicity and Industrial Development De-velopment will .have unanimous approval. (1) There has been no diversion divers-ion of any funds legally assigned as-signed to highway purposes. (2) No Federal Aid Road Matching Funds have been, or can be, lost to the state because of any motor registration fees that are transferred to the Department De-partment of Publicity and Industrial In-dustrial Development. (3) Work on the highways of Utah has neither been delayed nor prevented because of money transferred to this Department. The inability of the state to complete all its contemplated road projects in 1946 is due to a shortage of materials and capable personnel, and not due to shortage of funds. (4) Funds which are assigned to this Department by the Legislature Leg-islature would, even if they were diverted to the State Road Commission, be an extremely minor factor in the building of needed highways within the State. It is unfortunate that no member of the groups referred to in the first paragraph, nor any speaker at their meeting, has ever made any attempt to go into the matter with this Department De-partment relative to the scope or importance of nie projects in which these funds are being used for the development of a great tourist industry and also for many other income-producing activities. Dept. of Publicity and Industrial Indus-trial Development. By Aaron M. Tracy, Chairman; Arthur L. Crawford, Commissioner; Commis-sioner; Rulon S. Howells, Commissioner. STATEMENT 1 The use of the term "Highway "High-way User Taxes", to include as a single unit both the Gasoline Taxes and the Registration Fees has created a confusion of the issues at stake. By using this method it is always possible pos-sible to infer, with considerable emphasis, that non-highway uses are made of gasoline tax money. We recommend that, m an effort to clarify the issue the funds be considered each on ;ts own merit: , (a) The gasoline tax fund is set up for End used exclusively by the State Road Commission for purposes outlined by law. The Department of Publicity and mdustXl Development has nev-er nev-er received one dollar of gaso "Tb)" emmoetor vehicle regis-tratton, regis-tratton, or auto license" plate fee fund was set up by the 1917 Legislature as a revenue measure meas-ure for purposes to be determ-p,1 determ-p,1 bv the Legislature. Many ates as well as registration Ji i l'inpnsp fees, are revenue cated to the sole benefit pf any group or purpose. It is g LJgruous to think of a Df austere" solely for the benefit of those who smoke cig- "Thf'disposition of all funds received from registration fees defined by the Legislature under Section 36-2-16, 17, i. Utah Code Annotated 1943, from which we quote relevant parts: "There is .appropriated to the state road commission from the motor vehicle registration fund the sum of $SOO,000 annually. . . to be entered in a special account ac-count to be known as the Class B and Class C roads account. . . On the frst day of August 1941 and on the same day of each lr thereafter, there is appro- Suhi w t0 th,e dePartment of publicity and industrial development devel-opment all surplus money in fLm?u0r yemcle registration tund, the disposition of which law" otnerwise provided by Under the provision of the law, therefore, the surplus funds only of the motor vehicle registration regis-tration fees- are appropriated to the Department of Publicity and Industral Development. There can be no diversion where funds have been used for purposes pur-poses carefully defined by the Legislature. STATEMENT 2 Great stress has been placed on a supposed loss to the state in not being able to obtain all possible federal aid matching funds for roads. We quote from a news item appearing in a Salt Lake City paper of September 15, 1946, under a Price, Utah, dateline, wherein the speaker, in announcing the tax diversion issue, said: "That on August 1, 840,052.35 was transferred to the Department Depart-ment of Publicity and Industrial Development, according to authorization auth-orization made by the State Legislature in 1941. He pointed out that had this money remained re-mained in road funds it could have been matched with $2,-500,000, $2,-500,000, through federal aid for the purpose of highway construction." con-struction." As a matter of fact, not a dollar dol-lar of matching funds has ever been lost because of any money transferred to this Department. No money can be transferred to the Department of Publicity and Industrial Development if one dollar of federal matching road funds is thus placed in jeopardy. Again quoting from Sec. 36-2-18: ". . . And the state auditor shall transfer such surplus money to the credit of the department de-partment of publicity and industrial in-dustrial development, but the fund herein transferred shall not be used in any manner whereby the state of Utah would not be able to obtain its full share of the Federal Aid Fund." If a single dollar of federal aid matching road funds were placed plac-ed in jeopardy, the state auditor would be enjouned from turning turn-ing any money required for matching purposes over to the Department of Publicity and Industrial In-dustrial Development. The only money transferred for use of this department is an SURPLUS in excess of the $800,000 which must be set aside for county and city roads, plus the cost of c o 1 1 e ction and administration, plus any other legal charges that may be placed against the fund. It may be enlightening to knnw that the Public Roads Ad ministration has allocated to the state of Utah for 1946, 1947, and 1948, matching funds for each year in the amount of $ 651,000. For matching purposes, the state of Utah must put up a maximum of approximately $2,000,00 for each of the three vears. Such an amount is I amply covered by the gasoline tax. The amount of federal aid, $4,651,000 a year for the three years mentioned, could not be increased no matter what additional addi-tional funds were diverted to highway purposes. STATEMENT 3 Amplification of this statement state-ment can be had from the State Road Commission. STATEMENT 4 The average annual amount received by the Department of Publicity and Industrial Development Devel-opment from the surplus of the registration fees, since its inception incep-tion to and including August 1, 1946, is $383,023.91. On the other oth-er hand, the gasoline tax for 1946 is about $5,000,000. Add to this the federal matching funds of $4,600,000, and it shows a total to-tal of more than $9,600,000 available to the State Road Commission Com-mission for the year 1946. Even Ev-en though this $383,024, now allocated al-located to the Department of Publicity and Industrial Development, Devel-opment, were added to the $9,-600,000, $9,-600,000, it is still quite inconceivable incon-ceivable that this amount, which is less than 4 per cent of the total, could spell the difference dif-ference between success and failure in the state highway system. Footnote The Department of Publicity and Industrial Development was created in answer to an urgent need. Following the precedent of many other states, whose industrial in-dustrial and commercial development devel-opment has been greatly aided and facilitated through the efforts ef-forts of state commissions such as this one, the legislature of 1941, after careful study and on the advice of experts in varied lines of experience, created this department to assist in various ways in raising the earning level lev-el of Utah residents. All projects pro-jects financed through this department de-partment may well be considered consid-ered as income-producing investments in-vestments and not as expenses of government. Its current program pro-gram to develop a more lucrative lucra-tive tourist trade, to mention only one of its duties, undoubtedly undoubt-edly can produce as much in new gasoline taxes alone each year as the total annual expenditures expen-ditures of the Department of Publicity and Industrial Development. Devel-opment. A careful analysis of the programs pro-grams now being carried through by the department will prove the wisdom of the legislature legis-lature in creating and providing provid-ing for the Department of Publicity Pub-licity and Industrial Development. |