It seems to me that we elected representatives, giving them authority to restructure the Utah tax regulations to recognize the need for changes in the way revenues are raised by the various tax sources. It is apparently easy to attack one particular section of the restructure, the tax on food, while ignoring the overall provisions of the legislation.
I just don’t understand the big concern over increasing the food tax when there was a mitigating credit being given for low and moderate income families. My understanding is that there would have been a $125 credit per person to offset the higher food tax. A family of four would therefore get a $500 tax credit. If the sales tax on food was increased from 1.75% to 4.85%, I calculate that it would require that family to spend over $16,000 on groceries at the higher tax rate to wind up paying more taxes after the tax credit.
While I credit the Utah Legislature and the various groups that studied tax restructure options for months, they miscalculated the public’s ability to understand it clearly.
Jerry McClain
Draper