COST OF CITY GOVERNMENT
The Utah Taxpayers Association calculates how much residents pay in taxes and fees to cities. We look at the top 50 cities in Utah by population to determine how much a city collects in taxes and fees, then calculate the cost paid by residents by each $1,000 earned, as well as per capita.
We use data from the State Auditor’s office, the Census Bureau, and each city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. This report is released every other year. This report is finalized around the month of June.
To request a hard copy of the most recent Cost of City Government report, email taxwatch@utahtaxpayers.org.
Annual Report Finds Utahns Spend $643 Per Person on City Government on Average
As part of our annual revenue of proposed tax increases, the Utah Taxpayers Association also compiles a report that calculates the amount of money paid per capita to city government by Utahns in the state’s 50 largest cities by population. The 2020 Cost of City...
County Government Costs Utahns $980 a Year, On Average
In the Utah Taxpayers Association’s 2019 Cost of County Governments report, Daggett County ranks highest for cost of government, where residents pay on average $82.65 of each $1000 they earn. The lowest ranked county is Washington County, where residents only pay...
$611 of Average Utahns’ Income Goes to City Government
Utah citizens are paying roughly $611 of their income to city government, which is roughly $24.72 of each $1,000 earned by residents in the city. This represents 2.4% of taxpayer income. The average cost of city government per $1,000 of income earned by city residents...