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Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, made an unusual motion Friday for a constitutional amendment he sponsored to raise sales tax by a penny per dollar to better fund education.
"I'd like it ripped up," he said.
Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairwoman Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork, replied, "I don't think that's a proper motion." Still, she grabbed a copy of his SJR4 and tore it in half. "I rule myself out of order," she said to laughter.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, joked that he was so inspired by Dabakis that Bramble moved to have one of his own bills on the agenda, SB168 — to help developers defer property taxes — also ripped up. Henderson then tore Bramble's bill in half.
"Senate Revenue and Taxation isn't supposed to be fun. But this is fun," she said.
Dabakis explained that he wants to raise millions or even billions of dollars more for education. But he said he wanted his amendment ripped up because it was half of a package he had pursued, and the other half was defeated by the committee last week.
That other half, SB104, would have raised state income tax on the richest 1.5 percent of residents to better fund schools.
Meanwhile, Dabakis said the companion HCR4 as rewritten would raise sales tax for education, but he realized that higher sales tax hurts the poor more than the rich. He said he was willing to ask for that sacrifice if the other half of the bill had proceeded also to ask the rich sacrifice more.
Dabakis said he is unwilling to move forward with just the portion of his package that would be tougher on the poor.
Dabakis said the higher sales tax would have brought in about $455 million a year for education, and the higher income tax on the rich would have brought another $179 million a year.
"Education needs a lot more money, and it needs consistency" in revenue sources, Dabakis said.