Three-fourths of Utahns want the state Legislature and Gov. Gary Herbert to cut taxes now, a new Y2 Analytics poll finds.
UtahPolicy.com was provided a copy of the top line poll results Tuesday morning.
And they show that 74 percent want legislators to cut taxes now.
Only 19 percent said they don’t want any tax cut this year, and 7 percent “didn’t know.”
Asked where the tax cut should come, most Utahns want the state income tax rate reduced:
- 44 percent said cut the state income flat tax of 4.95 percent.
- 20 percent said they want the tax on Social Security checks for seniors reduced.
- 8 percent said increase the child dependent exemption (which was eliminated in President Donald Trump’s federal tax cuts of 2017.)
- 6 percent said implement an earned income tax credit.
- And 5 percent said implement a military retirement tax credit.
- 17 percent said don’t cut taxes in the listed alternatives, but re-invest the start revenue into state government.
To get a broader view, Y2 asked the voters to pick their top three tax cut priorities: 60 percent said the income tax, tops of all choices; 36 percent said the SS tax; 22 percent said the child exemption; 19 percent said the earned income tax credit; and 12 percent (out of three top picks) said the military credit. (The results add up to more than 100 percent because respondents were asked to pick up to three priorities.)
Given three picks among all the choices, 30 percent included a “don’t cut taxes now, but re-invest in the state” as one of their choices.
But looking at the whole poll results, it’s fair to say most Utahns want a tax cut this year.
Lawmakers are sitting on $921 million in one-time and ongoing tax surpluses — where the state has, or will, collect more in taxes than budgets now call for. In a $20 billion budget, that’s a lot of tax surpluses.
Those tax cut options, and other tax breaks/cuts, are reflected in half a dozen bills sitting in the House and Senate rules committees, waiting for the Republican caucuses to make decisions on whether to give a tax cut this election year, or wait until 2021, when the state will see a new governor (most likely a Republican) and how tax cuts will fit in with a renewed tax reform effort.
If the GOP-controlled Legislature and Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, decide to cut taxes this session, they need to act quickly. The Legislature adjourns at midnight a week from Thursday.
Part of their thinking has to do with the likelihood that the Coronavirus will hit Utah this year, and what that may mean to spending on fighting the virus — the state will likely be tapped for some of the cost — but even more so on how a pandemic could affect this and next year’s state tax revenue.
People out of work because of a virus-caused economic downturn will harm income taxes, and increase unemployment and Medicaid health care costs.
A real virus impact could close down stores, harm tourism, reduce car travel and have other troubles, and sales and gasoline taxes could be harmed.
Y2 polled just under 1,050 registered voters between Feb. 26 and March 2. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.03 percent.
