A proposed increase in the gasoline tax has all but evaporated, and Utah lawmakers are promising no new taxes. No increases in income, sales or property taxes.
But if you think the 1999 Legislature will adjourn without taxpayers having to pay more into state coffers, you'd better hang onto your wallet. By the time the gavel falls March 3 they may have raised scores of fees you pay for various government services -- to the tune of at least $5 million.There will likely be a $5 increase on the fee you pay for a driver's license. Owners of airplanes could face new fees, as will out-of-state owners of snowmobiles. But those proposed fee changes are known because they come in bills that are debated on the floor and adopted.
There's another list -- one that has at least 135 separate fee increases or completely new fees. About $1.5 million in fee increases are hidden within an appropriations bill that is so thick and complex that few lawmakers have the time, energy or desire to root out the fee increases and demand debate.
That fee-hike list has some legislators worried.
"We have to do a better job dealing with these," said House Majority Leader Kevin Garn on Friday afternoon when informed that over the past month the nine budget subcommittees had approved at least 135 fee increases.
"These fees are the fastest growing revenue producer in state government. They're where state agencies look to get new cash. They are difficult to ferret out in the budget process, hard to spot. Let's face it, they are secret tax increases," he said.
They are generally not big increases. For example, agents who sell securities would be paying $15 more for a license. But that increase alone would raise almost $1 million in new revenue for the Department of Commerce. Proposed new license fees on insurance agents and brokers would raise almost another $1 million in revenue for the Department of Insurance.
Preliminary budget numbers released Friday show that state lawmakers want to increase at least 66 fees paid by individuals and businesses for various things ranging from a notary public certificate to licenses for health-care businesses.
Lawmakers are also proposing at least 75 new fees for services that were previously free, things like certain autopsy reports and copies of state regulations on lead-based paint.
And then there are a half-dozen or so bills that would increase fees, such as the one to require fees to own falcons and engage in the sport of falconry.
It doesn't stop there. Other bills would authorize private entities to impose bigger fees. One bill would remove any limits on the fees banks, credit unions and credit card companies can charge for things like late payments and early payoffs of loans.
Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, has been keeping track of fee increases for the past 11 years, and he is not convinced there are any more or less than past years. But for the first time, lawmakers are paying real attention to the tabulated list of fees that hit at businesses and individuals.
"Some will argue it is a tax because it reflects an increased cost for government services," he said. "On the other side, fees should more directly reflect the actual cost of those services."
The problem, he said, is that fees have become "creeping increases" that have every bit the same impact on people that tax increases do. And those increases don't get the public debate and attention from lawmakers they should.
Senate President Lane Beattie, R-West Bountiful, agreed, calling the list of fee increases "a very big concern" to GOP leadership. He ordered copies of the list of fees distributed to lawmakers to review before the budget is printed next week.
"The positive thing is we are discussing it," Beattie said. "In the past, those fees were hidden (in complex appropriations bills), and very few people knew they were even there."
Senate Minority Leader Scott Howell, D-Granite, said Republicans can beat around the bush all they want but fees are taxes, and it is hypocritical for lawmakers to tell voters they did not increase taxes when fee increases are being used to make up deficits in public programs like health care.
"It is a creative way for Republicans to fund programs that are being neglected because of (money diverted to) I-15 construction, but it is still a tax increase," he said.
The state's total take is anybody's guess. It could be more than $5 million, much of it coming through fee increases of $5 here and $10 there. Add in revenue from fees increased for driver's licenses, snowmobiles and airplanes.
And that's not counting the fees the state charges to other government entities and schools. That is harder to determine, but it is well over $5 million, most of that because of increased fees that would be charged by the Division of Fleet Services to state agencies needing to use state cars.
The state service that handles all government mail is raising its rates, too. That would generate an additional $525,000 more -- money that simply shifts from one state agency to another, the Division of Purchasing and General Services.
In fairness, the preliminary budget reduces or eliminates about 36 fees, most of them very small ones. For example, it would no longer cost disabled people $5 for a replacement handicapped parking pass. And fees charged by the Health Department for drinking- water tests would drop from $5 to $40, depending on the test.
House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, said state fees are, in general, set at a level to pay for the service provided, be it licensing a contractor or inspecting a hazardous waste facility.
But Stephens admits there is no law saying state agencies can charge more than the service provided; it's just a guideline that legislators try to follow. "It's our job to catch" any inappropriate fee increases in the main budget committee made up of leaders -- the Executive Appropriations Committee, said Stephens.
But Garn says it's hard to catch them all. And by-and-large legislative leaders leave it up to individual budget subcommittees to decide what is right.
Trouble comes when committees want to help out state agencies with tight budgets -- that leaves more cash for the legislator's own individual bills that might cost money as well.