This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Supporters of the proposed Our Schools Now ballot initiative like to say it will raise income tax rates for education by seven-eighths of 1 percent. It sounds small, so critics like to say instead that it will raise the actual taxes that people pay by 17.5 percent.
Both assertions are true. But the House voted Friday to require using that larger percentage change of taxes charged in future ballot initiatives and petitions, including Our Schools Now.
Representatives, after only about one minute of debate, voted 55-13 to endorse HB255, and sent it to the Senate.
In earlier committee debate, Rep. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, the bill's sponsor, said, "It prevents what I believe is gamesmanship by showing either a decimal place or fraction that may not tell the whole story about what the tax increase is."
"We see this as transparency for the taxpayer," Billy Hesterman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association also said in the earlier hearing. "It is an appropriate way to give the taxpayer a full understanding of what is being presented to them."
The Our Schools Now initiative proposed to raise income taxes by $750 million a year for education.
— Lee Davidson