I love a good tax cut and we’ve seen a good number of them over the last decade.
From moving Utah’s income tax rate down to eliminating sales taxes on tools for production for manufacturers to expanding the child tax credits for Utah families and cutting Utah’s taxes on social security income for seniors, that state has done tremendous things. We owe our elected officials a great deal of thanks for their vision and hard work for cuts they’ve made and the courage they’ve had to do these difficult things.
Thank you to the legislature and the governor for your hard work, your thoughtfulness and your dedication to ensure Utah’s taxes are fair and decreasing.
As we move forward and look to the future I hope the legislature and the governor will continue to look for the right tax cuts to make and the right tax policy decisions to enact but this may take time.
It is tempting to want to continue the push drive down Utah’s income tax rate as states across the country continue to drive theirs down. But, as we look at options like this, I hope we will remember the old adage our grandparents told us “measure twice and cut once.”
By doing this, we may very well learn the right thing to do is to keep cutting Utah’s income tax rate, but we may also learn there are other items to consider to cut taxes in the state. We may learn there are sectors of the economy that are facing unfair or overburdensome taxes that are stifling that industry from growing. We may learn that if we cut the income tax too much that local school districts will rely greater on property taxes to fund our schools and drive up the property tax burden in our state. We may identify the need to expand our sales tax base so that we can lower the sales tax rate for all Utahns overall as we’ve seen sales tax revenues continue to increase.
My point I am trying to make is that we need to make sure as we go into the 2025 legislative session that our elected officials are having the chance to see the whole picture of where Utah stands on tax policy and they have the opportunity to choose the best options after a thorough investigation of where to go next.
This effort will take more than the Utah Taxpayers Association and the legislature to accomplish. It will take involvement from the business community, the education community, the cities and counties, families and individuals that proudly call Utah home, and many more to ensure we are doing what is best for the future of the state and not just what is politically popular at the moment.
I know this sounds like a call for another task force or commission to take time and slow things done and that is not what I’m asking for.
What I hope for is that all of us will engage now in the process. To get to work now to meet with legislators and the various stakeholders to share our input, research and data to help lawmakers as they head into the 2025 session make the best possible decisions.
I’m a fan of the phrase “decisions are made by those who show up” and that is true at our state capitol. I hope all who read this get involved and share their perspective and their thoughts with the understanding that we all have the same goal in mind, to make Utah the best it can be for generations to come. Let’s get to work and let’s keep cutting taxes.