Written by: Christopher Collard
Utah’s state income taxes will be impacted by the 2017 federal changes and 2018 state changes. Enter your information below to find out the impact of federal and state changes on your household in 2018.
Written by: Christopher Collard
The income tax is one of the legs of Utah’s “three-legged stool” of tax revenues, along with the property and sales taxes. It is the largest of the three in 2017, bringing in approximately $3.6 billion. While federal income taxes are often a target for jokes on complexity, Utah’s state income taxes are relatively straightforward. Income taxes are a frequent focus for those who want increases for education on the one hand and those who … Continued
Written by: Christopher Collard
State lawmakers are currently considering a small personal and corporate income tax cut for Utahns that would reportedly reduce the state income tax from 5% to 4.95%. Lawmakers are considering these tax cuts in light of large revenue growth from the income tax on top of a one-time windfall as a result of the recent federal income tax overhaul. This brief addresses the impact of the personal income tax cut on households. Based on data … Continued
Written by: Christopher Collard
Property tax is one of the legs of Utah’s “three-legged stool” of tax revenues, along with the income and sales taxes. During the nineties and early aughts, the property tax was the smallest revenue generator of the three. However, with the 2008 income tax reform and the erosion of sales tax revenues, the three have been more equal, with the property tax bringing in approximately $3.3 billion in 2016, compared to $3.6 billion for income … Continued
Written by: Shawn Teigen
SOME CLAIM UTAH NEEDS MORE MONEY for K-12 public education. Others assert there is waste in the current K-12 public education budget. Simple Arithmetic? K-12 Education Spending in Utah can help readers answer for themselves questions about sufficiency and waste. It explains education finance and financial transparency. It explores revenues and spending in Utah and provides national comparisons. It also discusses data availability – and the next steps in education finance reporting. Download this report. … Continued
Written by: Shawn Teigen
Over the past twenty years, Utah’s K-12 education funding effort – or the amount spent per $1,000 personal income – has decreased from 7th highest in the nation to 37th. The decline has resulted in a nearly 29% decrease in tax revenue, which equates to a $1.2 billion reduction of funds available annually for public K-12 education. This would equate to an increase in funding of nearly $2,000 per pupil, or an average of over … Continued
Written by: Shawn Teigen
Utahns have always ranked K-12 education as a one of their top three concerns in the Utah Priorities Project. In 2016, K-12 education ranked third. Survey Responses Level of Concern In the Utah Priorities Project, over two-thirds (68%) of Utahns had a high level of concern for K-12 education (rating it a 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale). Liberal respondents were slightly more concerned than moderate and conservative respondents, but over 81% of “very … Continued
Written by: Shawn Teigen
In the early 1990s Utah ranked in the top 15 states on all four major national tests. Utah lost ground in the late nineties and now ranks in the middle twenties among the states. Colorado also slipped in national rankings, but contrary to Utah, Colorado quickly rebounded, and has been in the top 15 in reading and math for the last decade despite spending less than the national average on education. This report explores a … Continued
Written by: Shawn Teigen
The prospect of adding 385,000 school-aged Utahns over the next 35 years seems daunting. With this public school growth will come certain challenges, some of which the state has already been facing over the past two decades. Inadequate policy responses to these challenges may have produced a slide in national academic rankings, a decrease in education funding efforts, and an increase in tuition for college students. One way to address growth in the coming decades … Continued
Written by: Christopher Collard
Over the past several years tax cuts have reduced Utah’s annual revenues by $479 million, or nearly 8%. For Utahns, this means a lower tax burden. Utah Foundation periodically reviews Utah’s tax burden and ranks it among other states. For this review, tax burden is defined as all taxes and mandatory fees collected by the state and local governments as a ratio to $1,000 of personal income. Utah Foundation found that Utah’s state and local … Continued