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Show Disputes Commissioner's stand Editor: The Utah Commissioner of Higher Education, Rolfe Kerr, produced an incredible analysis of the recent tax hikes in his article on July 8 (Deseret News, My View). In it he praised the legislature and the governor for being statesmanlike, farsighted and courageous in their enactment of the largest tax increase in the history of the state. He decried the "haughty" letters, "angry" phone calls and the signatures on tax limitation petitions. He painted those who resist increased taxes as being ingrates who want more, but don't want to pay for it. He believes that the vast majority of our citizens are standing "solidly behind government gov-ernment leaders for the actions they took." (Despite a recent KSL-Deseret News poll that shows a majority of citizens support sup-port all four of the tax petitions being circulated.) Commissioner Kerr, climb down from your ivory tower. Statesmanship is not "cutting all the deals" for a tax increase before the legislature meets. Courage is not caving in to special interest groups, and then making sure that the new taxes are passed by a majority, thus prohibiting the possibility of taking the issue to the voters of the state in a referendum. And farsightedness farsight-edness is not increasing taxes when the state is in the middle of a serious economic downturn. What is particularly curious is Mr. Kerr's view of economics. He tells us that "We should recognize that the tax increases of this past legislative session did not even replace the losses in revenue incurred by the downturn in our economy." He assumes that by raising taxes we should be stimulated to higher productivity. As "The Wall Street Journal" pointed out, specifically referring refer-ring to Utah, high taxes eventually drive productive people and firms out of state, a trend that has already begun. While it is nice to learn of Kerr's efforts to cut waste in higher education, it is important to remember that it was President Chase Peterson of the University of Utah who organized one of this past session's largest and most effective lobbying efforts for the purpose of raising our taxes. It was under Mr. Peterson's direction that the staff and faculty of that institution, all of whom are public employees paid with our tax dollars, were used in that lobbying effort. Finally, it must be terrible having to put up with the taxpaying citizens who are trying to get their leaders to listen to their problems. All this business about petitions and signatures is hard to control. And what would happen if the voters of the state actually did have a say in how much taxes they pay? Heaven Forbid! Kent Davis Salt Lake City |