As clamor continues to rise around the possibility of raising the food tax, one has to wonder why Republicans are eager to reinstate this regressive tax. In an oh so unofficial poll issued by Fox news of “political insiders,” some 68 percent of Republicans (presumably legislators among them) say that they support reinstating the tax, [...]
Archive for the ‘Taxation and Government Spending’ Category
Rubber Laws and Liquor
As the state is staring down a $1 Billion deficit, some difficult decisions have to be made regarding how we are going to balance our budget while still providing for the needs of the citizens of the state of Utah. To be sure, cuts are going to have to be made to make sure that [...]
Bills to Watch: H.J.R. 17 – Joint Resolution Urging Congressional And Presidential Opposition to Federal Bailouts and Promotion of Fiscal…
Yes, the title of this resolution is so long that blogger would not allow me to type the full name out… and, similarly, this resolution is so far off the deep end that I have to wonder if Representative Craig Frank (R – District 57, Cedar Hills) has run out of space in his mind [...]
Why we Need Government Spending in a Capitalistic System
With budgets tightening all around the country, the argument that Conservatives and Libertarians alike continue to push is an idea that the private sector is able to cover any any all issues associated with our societal needs. Indeed the capitalistic society we live in drills into our head day in and day out that it [...]
Bills to watch: H.B. 114 – Abortion Litigation Trust Amendments – K. Sumson
So who is up for taking on the Supreme Court?! Who wants to make sure that we as taxpayers are forced to pay the price?! Who wants to write a really bad law that does absolutely nothing to solve real problems on the ground?! What’s that, you, Representative Kenneth Sumsion (R – American Fork, District [...]
I Want to Know, Have you Ever Seen the Rain? The Rainy Day Fund
As I was reading Speaker Clark’s Blog concerning our current budget situation, I could not help but ask myself “why don’t we tap into the rainy day fund?” After all there was not one mention of it in the entire post. The only thing he could come up with is that we simply “come to [...]
Bills to Watch: S.B. 114 – Tobacco Tax Amendments – A. Christensen
So, remember a while back, when I was complaining about Representative Ray’s bill regarding the tobacco tax – how it was punitive to raise taxes on tobacco in an attempt to make them quit rather than to help smokers with treatment and how it was poor policy to base tax code on sin taxes? Well [...]
Bills to watch: H.B. 219 – Tobacco Tax Increase – P. Ray
Just about anyone who has gone to a bar of late has heard people talk about the smoking ban in all bars across the state. The second thing to come up after people talk about the ban is the potential rise in the cigarette tax – well guess, what, H.B. 219 by Representative Paul Ray [...]