A couple of years ago, the State Legislature removed the state-portion of the sales tax on most food items. Effectively, that meant instead of paying a full 4.75 percent on tax at the grocery store, we would spend only 1.75 percent on taxes.
Sutherland was a big supporter of the repeal when it passed during the 2006 legislative session. In the summer of 2005, in an Interim Committee meeting, we testified that,
The sales tax is the best tax, if there is such a thing. It is fair – it taxes consumption. It is simple – a uniform statewide sales tax is easy to understand and apply. Wealthier people will pay more, poorer people will pay less. It captures more of the dollars of out-of-state consumers…For these reasons, the sales tax ought to be used more aggressively in tax policy.
And then we asked for the repeal of the food portion. Five months later, Sutherland was back on the Hill testifying. Again, we said,
…repeal of the sales tax on food is a great tax cut when we are all looking for ways to cut taxes. The average Utah family would save between $300 and $600 a year on their food bills…even a low-income family spending $500 a month on their food bill would receive a tax cut of about $300 annually, or the equivalent of one important pay check. This is a great way to cut taxes for all Utahns, and especially for low-income Utahns.
As the Governor and our State Legislature try to live within a balanced budget in these hard economic times, there is great pressure for them to reinstate the sales tax on food. Fortunately, the Governor and many legislators are hesitant to do so.
One State Senator, from St. George, just wrote on his blog that,
Because Utah balances its budget, the money is real. A dollar really is a dollar. Depending on tax policy, each dollar can either be in the pocket of the person who earned it, or it can be collected and shifted to someone else. Utah already takes too many dollars out of people’s pockets. Each additional dollar we take is one less dollar that the worker could have spent on food, shelter, charity, business development, etc. Government simply does not multiply the benefits of a dollar like the owner of a dollar does. Thus, while taking additional dollars out of people’s pockets could work to shore up the State’s budget issues, it would not be in the long-term best interests of Utah’s citizens or economy.
I couldn’t agree more with that statement. What bothers me most about all of this tax talk is that so many people in government have the attitude that your money is theirs first, and it is theirs to give and take as they see fit. Of course, one problem is that there’s never a time when they see fit to want to give it back to you. When economic times are good, they argue that now’s the time to “invest” in important, new projects. (I like how they think that government “invests” in things.) And when times are tough, like now, they argue that we can’t afford NOT to “invest” in people.
Folks, there’s no investment when government spends your money. There’s no ROI, or “return on investment.” Just recently, Sutherland suggested that we close the State Office of Tourism and the tourist industry freaked out. They argued that for every dollar that taxpayers spend on the Office of Tourism, the return was twelve-fold. People – that’s nonsense. That office couldn’t measure ROI if its life depended on it. Oh, wait, it does, and they still can’t back up their claims.
Throughout this ongoing budget debate, the next time you hear a government official argue that “we can’t afford to cut the budget,” you need to tell him that “we” isn’t “me” and that you’re perfectly capable of measuring your own return-on-investments – like, perhaps, warm clothes for you kids this winter or paying for your heating bill.
I’m Paul Mero. Thanks for listening.
