| Show Removing sales sa tax is s not the answer This November thanks to the ever- ever popular popular- media mogul Merrill Cook Utah will face one of the most talked about tax initiatives in jn the countr country whether or not to remove the sales tax on food The reasoning b behind hind the removal of f the tax is based on the surp surpluses uses Utah ha has enjoyed in recent years and the fact that cha changing ging our 34 billion budget to a 33 billion budget would not be difficult The proponents also say ay the tax only hurts the poor the very gr group p of we need to help Surpluses Surpluses' are re time one-time things they dont don't happen every year In fact according to the Utah State Office of Legislative Fiscal Analyst by 1992 Utah will be operating with a deficit By 1996 the office projects the state will have a 76 76 million deficit These projections include the revenue from sales tax If the tax is eliminated the deficits ts would be much th worse Sales tax is the only tax some pay Its It's the only tax th that t each Utahn pays equally Though it may not be fair to tax a staple of life removing this tax would not benefit enough to outweigh the imbalances imbalances im im- balances it t would cause in the state budget t. t Economic growth should be our highest first answer on our lists Removing Removing Removing ing the sales tax would not promote any economic growth and it certainly wouldn't keep our educated children in Utah looking for jobs The sales tax on food doesn't keep people out of Utah either its it's our lack of economic econom c- c growth and opportunities for paying high-paying quality high jobs If we want to give everyone a tax break and promote e economic growth lets let's think about lowering pur our income tax rate or providing a new break break for low and medium income families People are staying out of Utah and people are leaving Utah because our sour income taxes are the ninth highest inthe in inthe inthe the nation This could be seen as another in a series of Merrill Cooks Cook's fight for Utah's limelight It began a few years back with a campaign for Salt Lake City Mayor which failed miserably enough to help cause ause a fall fall- fall fall- out ing-out between him and the Republican Party of the state He then tugged rugged a at our purse strings by promoting tax initiatives on his way to the Governors Governor's mansion but he got sidetracked in his obsession and split the election so much that Governor Bangerter and his Great Salt Lake pumps won a second term Governor Bangerter h has s promised to not raise taxes or shift taxes to cover the revenue loss if the initiative passes Can we trust him like we trusted President George Bush orwill orwill or orwill will Bangerter slash programs to make up for forthe fortne forthe the loss The Utah Democrats say they will support raising taxes if the removal passes It seems illogical to remove one tax and then create another to make up for the the lost lost revenue from the tax we just just- removed Is removing the sales tax on food really the best thing to do Are we looking for an honest tax break for the majority of or a term short-term political boost for a few R Removing moving the sales tax on food is not the answer Lets Let's think about expanding our economy and invest our surpluses into our future |
