Huntsman weighing flat-tax proposal

He's undecided about scrapping deductions

By Bob Bernick Jr.
Deseret Morning News
Published: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 10:53 a.m. MDT
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Although the proposal received preliminary approval last week by a special task force that includes his deputy chief of staff, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said he hasn't made up his mind on whether Utah should switch to a flat-rate personal income tax — one that would do away with deductions for charitable giving, home mortgage interest and dependent children.

Neil Ashdown, Huntsman's deputy chief of staff, represents the governor and his points of view on the legislative/executive task force, said Huntsman spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi. But last week's vote "was only preliminary, a starting point" so the task force can put together numbers on how a flat-rate income tax could affect Utahns, she said.

Huntsman said he is watching the task force closely but so far endorses no personal income tax reform proposal. The only reform he now supports is phasing out of the state's 5 percent corporate income tax, Huntsman added.

The task force "is going to go through a lot of twists and turns," the governor said in Colorado, where he is attending a Western Governors' Association meeting. "I'm following the process."

Last week, a subcommittee of the 15-member Tax Reform Task Force voted 5-1 in favor of recommending a "true" flat-rate income tax to the whole task force, which will take up the issue later this summer after more study. Ashdown voted with the majority; Rep. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake, voted no.

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Huntsman made two appointments to the task force, which is stacked with 10 GOP legislators, including Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem. Huntsman appointed Ashdown and State Tax Commission chairwoman Pam Hendrickson, who also served on former Gov. Olene Walker's special tax reform study committee last year.

Democrats appointed House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake; Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, D-Price; and McGee.

The subcommittee vote fell along partisan lines, Republicans voting for the flat tax, Democrat McGee against.

In fact, several GOP task force members who are not assigned to the income tax subcommittee came to the subcommittee to vote for the Republican-backed flat-tax measure. All task force members can attend a subcommittee — whether they are assigned to it or not — make motions and vote, legislative staffers said.

Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who is not on the subcommittee, made the motion to recommend the flat-rate tax. He was supported by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo (not on the subcommittee); Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland (not on the subcommittee); Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan (not on the subcommittee); and Ashdown, who does sit on the subcommittee. Other GOP members of the subcommittee were not present.

A recent Deseret News/KSL-TV poll by Dan Jones & Associates found that 70 percent of Utahns oppose a flat-rate income tax that doesn't have the current deductions for charitable giving, home mortgage interest and dependent children.

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