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By Wayne Niederhauser
Utah State Senator, District 9

An editorial was published in Tuesday’s Salt Lake Tribune (entitled “Stage combat: Theater for touring Broadway shows should be in S.L.”) featuring the possibility of a Broadway-style theater in Sandy. I have no problem with the reference to a Senate Bill I am sponsoring. One paragraph, however, needs to be corrected:

. . . Yet that's what Senate Bill 218 would do. Beginning in 2009, the bill would replace the 1 percent restaurant food tax with a 0.07 percent general sales tax. Half of the revenues would continue to go to the county. The other half, however, would be divided among 16 cities and towns, half in proportion to population and half in proportion to revenues raised.

Here's the correct info: beginning in 2009, SB218 would "replace the 1 percent restaurant food tax with a 0.07 percent general sales tax." However, the revenue sharing between the counties and the cities and towns would not be effective until January 1, 2012.

I understand these things are complicated but this little fact makes a big difference to the story and the root of my bill. I would hope those who are writing about our bills would take special care to make sure the facts are correct before going to print.

2 Comments:

 Jesse Harris said...

So the idea here is to 1) spread the current restaurant tax load to all retail purchases and 2) shift the money from county-only to a split between counties and cities, correct? If so, what's the aim or purpose of the bill? What problem does it seek to solve?

2/21/2008 11:50 AM  

 Publius said...

I think the purpose behind your first point (shifting the burden from the restaurant tax to the general sales tax) is as you state: spread the burden of paying for amenities that everyone enjoys from one industry to all industries. As I understand the bill, any county that recieves less money (since each county as a different concentration of restaurants v. retail) as a result of the bill will be held harmless.

The purpose behind your second point seems to be to create more equity - the article seems to imply that SLC and Sandy are the only areas worth investing in. I'm sure the the other 14 cities and towns in Salt Lake County don't feel the same way.

2/21/2008 3:07 PM  

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