March 01, 2019(Deseret News) - A resolution before the Utah Legislature would compel state tax authorities to perform a comprehensive review of the use of tax incentives for new businesses to see whether they are a justifiable public investment in private enterprise. For example, was it necessary to offer Amazon $5.6 million in tax breaks in 2017 to build a distribution facility in Salt Lake City? Would the e-commerce giant not have built the center anyway as part of its … Continued
February 27, 2019(Deseret News) - The appeal of tax increment financing is clear. Public sector investments can be made off the balance sheet, meaning citizens don’t feel the pain. And, when executed properly, the new revenue would not have otherwise existed anyway and brings ancillary revenue benefits that results in a net gain for the public. But there’s the trick. Getting TIFs right depends heavily on getting the analysis right. In jurisdictions around the country, there are concerns that the … Continued
February 25, 2019(UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation releases Public Funds, Private Endeavors: A Primer on Local Economic Development Incentives in Utah. It is the first in a series of reports analyzing Utah’s incentive programs at the state and local levels. In the current legislative session, there are at least five bills that directly deal with how local governments award business incentives. Others may indirectly affect local governments’ ability to do so. This preliminary report provides background on the incentives that … Continued
February 24, 2019(UtahPolicy.com) - What did Utah’s governor mean when he told the Legislature that tax modernization is his top priority for this session? What’s not modern about our tax system — specifically, sales taxes? In this edition of Utah Thrives, we’ll hear what the governor had to say on the subject as well as from Research Analyst Christopher Collard, the author of Utah Foundation’s award-winning studies on sales, property and income taxes in Utah. And we’ll hear from … Continued
February 21, 2019(Salt Lake Tribune) - “Once we came back in special session, the budget had already been set. So we could only find $30 million that we could use,” he said. So it passed a $34 tax credit for every child dependent claimed. The Utah Foundation said with that action, about 64 percent of households will not see a major change in their state income tax. But 31 percent will have significant decreases. About 5 percent saw substantial increases, mostly … Continued
February 14, 2019(Kaiser Health News) - Utah’s plan to seek a per capita spending cap comes even though the state’s per capita Medicaid spending is among the lowest, according to a report last year by the Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan research group. The average cost for each Medicaid enrollee in Utah was $5,326 in 2014, the most recent year for which that figure is available, the report found. That number was the 10th lowest in the United States. Nationwide, Utah also … Continued
February 11, 2019(KSL-TV) - “Utah State taxes are linked to federal definitions,” said Christopher Collard, a research analyst with the Utah Foundation. The Utah Foundation said the jump in 2018 taxes isn’t a surprise. The organization sounded the alarm last year, saying that the federal tax reforms would negatively impact lower and middle-income Utahns. “Larger families will see the biggest impact,” read Collard’s March 2018, report about income taxation in Utah. “Both single and married households with more than … Continued
February 08, 2019(KSL.com) - By the 1970s, sales tax overtook property tax as the state’s largest revenue resource and remained the top until the mid-2000s. The rate continued to rise from the ’70s and eventually topped out at 5.09 percent. It’s fluctuated slightly since and is now 4.85 percent. However, as the governor’s office points out, sales tax revenue has fallen during that time. A report by the Utah Foundation in 2018 also noted this. Using Bureau of Economic … Continued
February 06, 2019(The Oklahoman) - All this is occurring even though Utah’s per-pupil public school funding consistently ranks last among the 50 states. According to 2016 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the most recent available, Utah spent $6,953 per student. That same year, the Census pegged Oklahoma’s per-pupil funding at $8,097. Yet education results in the two states don’t track with spending. National Assessment of Educational Progress scores in math and reading are higher in Utah than in Oklahoma. … Continued
January 31, 2019(Salt Lake Tribune) - Tax reform is a fact of life: Short of repealing the sales tax, which is not on the table, there is no change legislators can propose that would be more radical than the decision Utah made in the 1930s to create the sales tax in the first place. Since then, we’ve made ongoing modifications as times have changed. Utah Foundation’s 2018 report, The Everyday Tax, revealed that our sales tax rates have generally trended upward … Continued
January 22, 2019(UtahPolicy.com) - Governor Gary Herbert’s recent proposal for tax modernization grows out of long-standing concern over the role of sales tax in funding state government. Some of those concerns are documented in a 2018 study from Utah Foundation, The Everyday Tax: Sales Taxation in Utah. Among the key findings of the study: During the past 45 years, Utah has seen the nation’s second biggest decline in taxable sales as a proportion of consumer expenditures. Beginning in 1975, … Continued
January 22, 2019(Salt Lake Tribune) - Demand for housing continues to grow with the state’s healthy economy and high birthrate. At the same time, homebuilding costs are also being pushed up by a variety of factors, such as escalating prices for key building materials like lumber and steel, construction labor shortages and dwindling supplies of undeveloped land in more populated areas. Combined, these trends — and the possibility they could begin to slow Utah’s economic growth — have recently put affordable … Continued
January 15, 2019(KSL Newsradio) - (Amy Donaldson addressing a panel of legislative leaders at 2:15 into the Voices of Reason podcast) “While voters rejected the gas tax in this last election, there’s still broad support from the business community and others. According to a report from the Utah Foundation — these are stats you guys are familiar with — Utah is the second-lowest in school funding per pupil, second-highest in the nation for student-teacher ratio, last in funding from the … Continued
January 17, 2019(ABU Education Fund) - The story of Utah’s urban-rural divide is, first and foremost, a story of lopsided growth. The urban side is home to most of the people, with three-quarters of the population living along the Wasatch Front. It’s also where much of the economic opportunity resides, with high-tech employment booming on the Silicon Slopes. On the rural side of the divide, population is sparse and financial resources are more scarce. As the ninth most urbanized state in … Continued
January 15, 2019(UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation is pleased to announce that renowned Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam will serve as the keynote speaker at our Annual Luncheon on May 21 at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. Professor Putnam is the author of the landmark work on social capital, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. He is also the author of the recent best-seller, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Join us to hear one of America’s foremost public scholars share … Continued
January 11, 2019(KTVX) - According to a recent report from The Utah Foundation, the Utah State Prison in Draper can house up to 4,500 offenders, both male and female. The Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison can hold 1,600 males. That means both of Utah’s prisons combined, has 6,100 beds. According to the report, as of September 2018, there were 6,636 prisoners in the beehive state, which means we’re over capacity.
January 11, 2019(Deseret News) - Gov. Gary Herbert has proposed a reform package that would do some of this while also giving Utahns a $200 million cut in the overall sales tax the state collects — effectively giving back some of the state’s projected $1.3 billion in surplus funds. He would lower the state’s portion of the sales tax from 4.7 percent to somewhere less than 3.9 percent. Lawmakers might be able to do even better than that. A study … Continued
January 07, 2019(Bloomberg Tax) - Big families in Utah—the state with the highest birth rate in the nation—face a big tax problem because of the federal tax overhaul. But child-friendly Utah’s Legislature is likely to take another stab this year at a fix. The 2017 federal tax law, while increasing overall deductions, eliminated the state tax exemption per dependent that helped lower tax bills for Utahns earning up to about $150,000.
January 03, 2019(GRA Online) - In 2016, Utah Foundation’s Priorities Project found that the cost of health care was Utahns’ biggest concern. In response, Utah Foundation produced a three-part Utah health cost series from December 2017 to June 2018. The series provides an analysis of the overall cost of health care spending in Utah, the cost of health insurance for Utahns, and the overall cost of Medicaid in Utah. Utah Foundation found that Utahns spend less per capita on health … Continued
December 26, 2018(Deseret News) - A new study confirms a trend many lawmakers already support: Increased rehabilitation services for drug-addicted offenders offers needed short-term aid while lowering long-term impacts on taxpayers as recidivism rates drop. The report, produced by the Utah Foundation,takes an in-depth look at efforts to address addiction within Utah’s justice system. The study also explores alternative approaches for people struggling with substance abuse and suggests courses of future action. It offers some good news and bad news … Continued
December 25, 2018(KUTV) - Proponents of Utah’s criminal justice reform bill of 2015 say it’s been “very effective” at cutting the prison population, saving taxpayers money and getting help to people addicted to drugs. However, treatment challenges remain, and local jail populations are higher. Marshall Thompson, director of the Utah Sentencing Commission, said Utah was years ahead of federal lawmakers, who voted last week on changes impacting the federal prison system. The 2015 state law dropped certain drug possession … Continued
December 23, 2018(Deseret News) - Somewhere in our state right now, an inmate is struggling with the slavery of substance abuse. He has fallen into a downward spiral of addiction and criminality, and has landed behind bars. Drug use and crime are often entangled. Some offenders with substance-use disorders are arrested on drug possession charges; others may be arrested for crimes committed to fund an addiction. In short, many criminal offenders are people caught in the downward spiral of addiction … Continued
December 16, 2018(Daily Herald) - A nonprofit group laid out a recipe Thursday to reduce Utah’s prison and jail populations, cut crime, save lives and unburden taxpayers. Effective drug treatment programs are a major part of the solution, the Utah Foundation said in its study, “Rethinking Rehabilitation.” Treatment in the long run cuts costs in the criminal justice system and reduces repeat offenses, the report said. Programs that address prisoners’ mental health or substance use problems can save taxpayers up … Continued
December 14, 2018(Standard Examiner) - A nonprofit group laid out a recipe Thursday to reduce Utah’s prison and jail populations, cut crime, save lives and unburden taxpayers. Effective drug treatment programs are a major part of the solution, the Utah Foundation said in its study, “Rethinking Rehabilitation.” Treatment in the long run cuts costs in the criminal justice system and reduces repeat offenses, the report said. Programs that address prisoners’ mental health or substance use problems can save taxpayers up … Continued
December 16, 2018(Standard Examiner) - THUMBS UP: This week, the Utah Foundation released a report that shows how Utah can reduce prison and jail populations, saving the taxpayers a lot of money. In that report, rehabilitation is a central element. Treating prisoners’ mental health and substance abuse issues are key to helping them when they re-enter society and to reduce future cost burdens on fellow Utahns. On the flip side, the report claims that criminal justice costs will only increase … Continued
