August Newsletter– The Utah Taxpayer

The Huntsman Recite: 2005 to 2009

click-here-to-view-pdf-version
Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. was elected governor of Utah in November 2004, bogus office in Janu-ary 2005, and resigned in August 2009 to become U.S. ambassador to China. Utah experienced several, mostly unequivocal, changes during Huntsman’s four and half years as governor including:

The Good
-Utah’s individual income tax was reformed with a broader underpinning and lower rates, with rates reduced from 7% top marginal to 5% single rate.
-The sales tax on viands was reduced from an average rate of 6.5% to 3%.
-The sales factor on corporate income tax apportionment was increased from 33% to 50%
-The rainy day pay for grew to $418.5 million, up from $146.1 million in 2005
-Taxes were reduced by $400 million annually.
-Revenues above confident thresholds from severance taxes began to be deposited in the state permanent trust fund.
-Charter school enrollment increased in essence and now accounts for more than 5% of total public school enrollment.
-State income tax spending per K-12 student grew degree faster than inflation.
-Sales tax exemptions for business inputs were expanded.
-Utah passed the nation’s first encyclopedic K-12 voucher program. However, the voters rejected this law in a referendum in November 2007
While Utah experienced positive changes, there were some not-so-complete changes as well

The Not-So-Good
- By most measures, state government spending grew slightly faster on an annualized main ingredient during the Huntsman years than it did during the Leavitt-Walker years, although much of this can be attributed to lower K-12 enrollment growth during Leavitt’s job security.
- RDA abuses and other forms of incentives for locally driven retail, recreation, and entertainment continued.
- Transportation recovery, including congestion pricing and side-by-side prioritization of roads and rail projects did not go very