The U.S. presidential race seems to be disintegrating into name calling, but Utah's gubernatorial race is polite — so polite that Democrat Scott Matheson Jr. and Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. applauded each other Friday during their first of eight formal debates.
The Utah League of Cities and Towns debate, also broadcast live on KCPW radio, had taxes as its theme. And there were few surprises during the discussion.
One difference, perhaps.
Matheson said that state government, in trying to balance out sales tax across Utah, may want to remove some sales-tax exemptions while allowing local governments to raise taxes via citizen referendums.
Huntsman, meanwhile, said Utah now levies 54 different taxes, and the whole code should be restudied with an eye to having only three or four "stable" tax sources — such as sales, property and income.
No one advocated tax hikes. But hints were made about some significant tax changes should the 2005 Legislature agree with the ultimate winner.
Both men said tax-reform discussions should include whether property-tax increases, caused by real estate inflation, should be exempt from local Truth-in-Taxation hearings.
The candidates even talked around raising the state's per-gallon gasoline tax, not increased since 1997, which would help fund billions of dollars in critical road construction.
Huntsman didn't mention one of his campaign planks — cutting the sales tax from unprepared food. Reducing that tax would be a sore spot with local government officials in the audience as more and more cities and towns rely on retail sales-tax revenue to fund their governments. Matheson recalled the friendly governor's race of 1964, when then-victor Democrat Cal Rampton went golfing with defeated Republican Mitch Melich the day after the election. "I hope that is the kind of relationship Jon and I are developing," Matheson said. And he hopes for the same election result, too, he joked.
But Utah has become much more Republican since. The state hasn't elected a Democratic governor since Matheson's father, the late Gov. Scott M. Matheson, won re-election in 1980. The latest Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll shows Huntsman ahead 49-39 percent.
Both men Friday slammed Utah's current tax code, praising the work of Gov. Olene Walker's expert tax-reform panel that will soon recommend broad-ranging changes.
Huntsman called the code discombobulated, uncoordinated, dilapidated and antiquated.
Local governments are "zoning for dollars," trying to entice big-box retailers into their boundaries by warring with neighboring communities, he said.
Matheson said he wants to look at all of the current sales-tax exemptions. "There are more than $500 million" lost to state and local governments through the exemptions. "We need to look at those every five years and make (those getting the tax breaks) justify them."
That's tough to pull off, however. Former Gov. Mike Leavitt got the Legislature to dump half a dozen or so sales-tax breaks in the early 1990s. But the affected industries successfully lobbied lawmakers to restore the exemptions over the next two years, with Leavitt not vetoing their re-instatement.
Huntsman said the state is in "a death spiral economically" as the state loses jobs while the population grows, particularly the number of schoolchildren. "That is unsustainable," he said. The average wage also is below the national average. "We need not only jobs, but good-paying jobs."
How will state and local governments satisfy the mounting demands?
"We need to talk about what kind of voter approval may be needed if we give additional flexibility" to local governments to get more revenue, Matheson said, eschewing tax hikes. "I'll take that on" with the Legislature. "I'm for local empowerment; I'm for local decision-making."
While Huntsman said Utah's economy needs help, and taxes reformed, he believes the economic pie "must be grown" to get the revenues Utah needs.
True, said Matheson. But even if the state's economy grows at 5 percent a year — an optimistic estimate — there won't be enough money "to address all these problems." He says some tough budget decisions must be made to get more money for public education.
Huntsman said "something must be done" about the sales tax, otherwise it will grow so much that Utah becomes less competitive among the Western states.
While that may be a concern, a graphic placed on a large screen during the debate by league officials shows that the 6.65 percent sales tax in Salt Lake City is below rates in Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver and Phoenix.
Matheson said the explosive political issue of sales tax revenue distribution — how much goes to point of sale or delivery, how much by population of local areas — must be revisited. When groans were heard from the audience, he added: "Not say we do it, but (be) part of the discussion." "Too many people (taxing districts) have a call on the sales tax," said Huntsman, from transit districts, to arts and zoos, to open space.
But asked if they support specific proposals on November's ballot, both candidates said they support earmarking a small part of the sales tax for open space preservation.
On other issues, Huntsman said he supports Amendment 3 (the protection of traditional marriage proposal), while Matheson opposes it.
Both said they favor Second Amendment gun ownership rights, but both said they oppose guns in schools and churches.
Huntsman said a new Centennial Highway Fund must be created. The fund rebuilt I-15 in Salt Lake County in time for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
But Matheson said transportation projects promised in the current fund "were unrealistic," and the next governor can't allow similar unfunded projects into the new fund.
Finally, both men were asked what they've learned from their successful fathers.
"I've learned to lead with my heart," said Huntsman, adding that his philanthropist father, Jon Huntsman Sr., taught his children to give back to the community.
Matheson said, "Around our kitchen table we learned to get involved in the community and give ourselves to public service."
The whole debate will be televised on Comcast's Channel 3 each day next week. The men's extensive tax reform/economic development campaign planks can be found at www.votehuntsman.com and www.mathesonforgovernor.com.
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com