Blog

Utah’s Health Care Conversation Moves Ahead

Written by: Dan Bammes

Those who attended Utah Foundation’s Across the Spectrum event on April 2nd got a different kind of legislative wrapup, including a discussion of the most important thing the legislature didn’t do – act on Governor Gary Herbert’s proposal to provide health care to Utahns who don’t qualify for Medicaid or for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Healthy Utah was passed in the Utah Senate, but had so little support among Republicans in the House … Continued

Tax Burden as a result of HB362 and SB97

Written by: Shawn Teigen

How will the 2015 Utah Legislature’s increases on gas and property taxes affect Utahns? It may bump our respective state and local tax burdens ranking up just a bit. While in 2012 Utah saw the lowest tax burden that we have in at least 20 years, a new analysis by Utah Foundation’s Christopher Collard shows that downward trend may stabilize or reverse by 2016 and 2017. This table is simply an estimate. The 2016 data … Continued

The most common question? What’s UF?

Written by: Dan Bammes

What’s the Utah Foundation? I hope you won’t mind a personal observation on the question I’ve been asked most frequently since I joined Utah Foundation a few weeks ago. It is, quite simply, “What’s that?” I’ve had to come up with short and long answers about what Utah Foundation is and what we do. The short answer: Utah Foundation is a public policy research group. We study and publish reports on a wide range of … Continued

Public schools shoulder the burden of tax cuts

Written by: Stephen Hershey Kroes

For many years, Utah Foundation has written about the decline in Utah’s investment in K-12 education. In the 1990s, it was common to hear about Utah’s “education paradox” – a term Utah Foundation coined to describe how a very high funding effort could yield a small amount per pupil. In 1995, for example, the proportion of income that Utahns paid for public schools ranked seventh highest in the nation, yet per-pupil funding was last in … Continued

Waiting for Tier 3: How Soon Will Cleaner Gasoline Come to Utah?

Written by: Dan Bammes

Salt Lake City disappears in a haze of particulate air pollution – January 17, 2015 Utah Governor Gary Herbert has been asking the oil refineries that serve the Utah market to make gasoline that meets the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 3 standard available as soon as possible. Gasoline refined to the cleaner Tier 3 standard could have a dramatic effect on Utah’s air quality, since the majority of the pollution that gets trapped in … Continued

“Made in Utah” Collaboration Grows from Utah Breakfast Club

Written by: Dan Bammes

At the first meeting of the Utah Breakfast Club on Thursday, January 15th, leaders in the digital media and movie production industries talked about the need for a place where new startups and established businesses could connect with colleagues and with potential financial backers. One outgrowth of that conversation is the new Made in Utah page on Facebook. It was created by a member of the panel invited to discuss the film and digital media … Continued

Utah’s Economy: Growing Fast, Leaving Some Behind

Written by: Dan Bammes

Utah Foundation President Steve Kroes appeared on a panel at the presentation of this year’s Economic Report to Governor with economist Carrie Mayne from the Utah Department of Workforce Services Each year, the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah publishes an Economic Report to the Governor. The 2015 report was presented on Friday, January 9th to a breakfast meeting of business, state and community leaders at the Marriott City Center … Continued

Utah Aims Low on Revenue Projections

Written by: Christopher Collard

The governor recently announced an additional $638 million in revenues for the coming fiscal year. This total is made up of 2014 and 2015 revenue growth above projections and some funds that were not used in previous years. Some attribute the surplus to a spike in economic growth. While Utah’s economy is outperforming the rest of the nation there might other factors behind the surplus. To begin with, whether Utah brings in revenue above predictions … Continued

Top Research Findings of 2014: Part III

Written by: Shawn Teigen

Two reports took the four top spots in 2014.     4: The particularities of current water usage in Utah…   In the second most arid climate in the nation, a vast majority of our water is used in agriculture and to keep our Kentucky blue grass green. (Flowing Toward 2050, released in September 2014.)     3: “…decreases have not necessarily translated into fewer high pollution days.”   Utah (and the U.S.) has been … Continued

Top Research Findings of 2014: Part II

Written by: Shawn Teigen

There is only one tie in the top-ten research findings of 2014, and it happens to be a three-way for 5th place… 5 (three-way tie): “…the difference between the projected 2030 and 2060 65+ dependency ratio is more significant in Utah (24.2 to 33.7) than in the nation (35 to 37)…” and there will be a lower percentage of kids.   While the Baby Boomer boom is already happening elsewhere in the nation, there is … Continued