One of the prime attractions of Utah is its relatively solid family life. There is much good about Utah's lifestyle that gives comfort to people from the West and East coasts.
Utah will continue to attract outsiders until it becomes like other areas in the country and forces the family to cope economically as families in other areas of the country must do.I quote for your consideration from "Putting Parents First" by Wade Horn, Wall Street Journal, May 28, 1993, Page A10:
"After affirming the central importance of parents in bringing up children, government policy must strive to find ways to help parents spend more time being parents. Unfortunately, over the past several decades, government policies have been doing the opposite. In 1948, the typical family of four paid only 2 percent of its income to the federal government in taxes. Today it pays 24 percent, with an additional 8 percent to 10 percent of a family's income going toward state and local taxes. This dramatic increase in the tax burden has resulted in parents working longer hours just to stay even financially." (Just think what the Clinton/Shepherd tax increase is going to do to the struggling family.)
"Public policy must begin to reverse this decades-long increase in the tax burden so that parents can invest more time and energy in their children. . . . Government's primary role in child-rearing should be to help parents find the time and resources to raise their children."
I assume that it is your desire to maintain the family focus of Utah. If that is the case, there can be no equivocation on a position that opposes new taxes. Tax increases cannot be conveniently shuffled from or to federal or local governments.
Unfortunately, that means more than no new taxes. That means actively opposing any increases in government spending, no matter the source of the funding. It must mean actively reducing the role of government in our lives.
When was the last time that tax increases improved the economic climate or gave the majority of parents time to work with their families? In 1990, current House leadership rammed through a tax increase that "would reduce the national debt by $500 billion over five years." It worked so well that the House of Representatives has to do it again.
Allen Elggren
Salt Lake City