To the editor:
Recently, you carried a column regarding Christmas shopping and buying by catalog. Most people in Utah are barraged with catalogs encouraging us to buy a wide range of merchandise by mail.Most material advertised can be purchased in the state of Utah. When buyers utilize Utah companies, they are dramatically assisting the economic well-being of the state. Utah companies hire Utah people. They pay rent or lease payments, utilities, provide employee benefits, and generally make contributions to various organizations in the state.
Out-of-state concerns make no contributions to the well-being of Utah, and Utahns exporting our buying power to out-of-state concerns have a huge negative impact on Utah businesses and the Utah economy.
I would encourage your readers who wish to buy from catalogs to use the catalogs of companies with existing facilities in the state of Utah.
Let's keep our buying dollars at home. Let's make certain that sales taxes are paid on our purchases. Let's make certain that the dollars we spend are, in turn, used to pay Utah employees, Utah property taxes and a wide variety of other benefits to the state.
It is true that people can save the sales tax on merchandise purchased through the catalog. Most often, this is offset by the extra dollars paid for packaging, handling and postage.
Buy in Utah! Keep our Utah-earned dollars in Utah!
Fred S. Ball, president
Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce