Taxes

Politicians are like car salesman. When you buy a car, the salesman rarely tells you the total cost of the car. He tells you only what your monthly payment will be. Politicians do not talk about lump sum costs of programs and tax increases. They do not tell you your property taxes are going up $500 this year. They like to tell you it is just $1.36 a day. Surely everyone can find a little over a dollar in loose change every day. Increased sales tax, hikes in water rates, surcharges on fuel. Here a little and there a little. It's only a few cents a day.

When you put it all together, though, cents add up into dollars, and days add up into months and years.

Under Republican Governor Huntsman, the Republican legislature has increased the Utah state budget 33% in the last four years. That is 8% a year. How many taxpayers' incomes have risen 8% a year for the last four years? How can we have government spending grow faster than inflation and expect to sustain this growth rate in an economic downturn?

According to the Utah Taxpayers Association, the average tax burden on Utah citizens is 28.54%. That puts Utah 11th in the nation in taxes and fees paid by our citizens.

Our state representatives are not fiscally conservative. As your representative, I will vote against every new and increased tax. I will look for ways to reapportion the money the state is already collecting to ensure that the most critical needs of the state are met. We all know what it means to tighten the belt and make every dollar count in our household budgets. Why should our state government act like we are in a period of unprecedented prosperity when our personal pocketbooks are shrinking and our hard-earned dollars are losing value right before our eyes? I will use my vote to bring fiscal responsibility back into focus for Utah.