Large tax bill would reduce rate but expand sales tax to services statewide

It’s about 257 pages long and was released two weeks before the end of the Utah legislative session. House Bill (HB) 441 would reduce the sales tax rate and a small amount of the income tax rate. But in an effort to generate more revenue for the state, the bill proposes an expansion of taxed services, including construction, information technology, legal activities, finance, advertising, cosmetic surgery, haircuts, even private lessons would have a sales tax applied.

It has the endorsement of Governor Gary Herbert and on KVNU’s For the People program on Thursday, Rusty Cannon of the Utah Taxpayers Association said they were just briefed about some of the details of the bill on Wednesday evening.

“The good news is, implementation of this wouldn’t start until January 1st of 2020. Meaning that we do have some time, if this were to pass, to iron out some wrinkles, answer some concerns and answer a lot of questions that’ll come. But essentially it would start (then) with a partial reduction of the sales tax which would then go even further lower later that year,” said Cannon.

He said it was clear the sponsors have thought it through for quite some time. Although there are some exemption categories, every service used in the state would have a sales tax collected and remitted on it.

Cannon said if individuals or businesses are concerned about the bill, an important first step is to contact their local legislator. He said the taxpayer association will have a position on this once they fully work through the details of the legislation. You can see their website at www.utahtaxpayers.org

AUDIO: Utah Taxpayers Association VP Rusty Cannon talks to FTP host Jason Williams

 

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