By Julie Johansen
Stewart’s Market in Castle Dale joined other supermarkets in Utah by inviting tax referendum supporters to set up a signing station in the store. Nearing the end of the eligibility period for gathering the needed number of signatures, citizens gathered in the deli area to add their name to the list, expressing their desire for the tax reform issue to be placed on the ballot in November.
Supporters of the referendum state that some of the reasons for signing the referendum include repealing the tax increases on food, fuel and some services. One of the biggest reasons for the tax referendum is that they feel that public input given to the legislature was dismissed.
“If you raise the cost of vehicle fuel, a family has less money to go to the store to buy food,” one of the groups in support of the tax referendum shared. “Raising the cost of food by raising the sales tax on food by an 177% Utah tax increase, means the family has less money to buy food. The State paying this family back later doesn’t help. Why should a family making it without the government be pushed into requiring help? Not only is raising taxes on food wrong, raising fuel prices bad, taking money from education questionable, the whole idea of moving all sales tax money away from roads is wrong. Transportation related sales tax is supposed to go to roads per the state constitution: art XIII sec 5, (6). Income tax is to go to Education also per the state constitution, Art. XIII Sec. 5.”
The Utah Taxpayers Association has expressed support for the tax reform. “For more than a decade, Governor Gary Herbert and the Utah Legislature have carefully crafted tax and regulatory policy to ensure Utah is the best place to do business, has the best economic outlook and has the highest job growth,” the association shared in a statement. “They now have given us SB2001, which modernizes Utah’s tax code to ensure the prosperity of Utah families for decades to come.”
To read the bill in its entirety, please click here.