Residents face hikes from several sides
"I think I'm speaking for all the retired people when I say they can't pay anymore. The bank is broke for these people. It's broke for me," Gritton said at a Midvale tax hearing this week. "The city wants money, the state wants money and we can't do it"
The 15 percent increase in Midvale would not be so bad, Gritton added, if it were the sole increase this year. But combined with a 9.86 percent tax increase from the Jordan School District and new city expenses like a storm drain fee, Gritton said his property tax bill is out of control.
"If they're going to charge everybody to clean drains, then I'll clean them myself," he said. "We can't afford anymore. Give us a break."
Gritton is among residents in 22 school districts, 13 cities, four counties and eight special service districts that are set to raise property taxes. That means many residents are facing a double or triple dose of tax increases.
Mike Jerman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, said the gamut of new taxes ranging from the mosquito abatement tax in Salt Lake City to the fire district tax in Park City represent a growing Utah trend toward hitting residents with lots of small fees and taxes. The smaller taxes, he said, are easier to pass because they meet less opposition from residents than do single, large taxes.
The trouble with that method, Jerman added, is that people notice the heat of being nickeled and dimed eventually. According to the association's 2004 report, Utah's property tax averages out to about 2.5 percent of personal income, lower than the national average of 3.2 percent. But when all the additional fees, sales tax, income tax and other state and local taxes are added into the mix, Utah has the third-highest tax percentage in the country — 15.1 percent, compared with a 13.2 percent national average.
Roger Tew, a tax analyst for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, said many residents are feeling the crunch of rising property taxes more this year because Utah cities have long depended on sales tax that is now struggling. Without that revenue, many cities are turning to taxpayers to make up the difference, Tew said.
"Property taxes have been kept artificially low in Utah because of an ever-increasing reliance on sales tax. You can't rely on boom times forever," he said.
You can be the first to comment on this story.