by Howard Stephenson
Utah‘s Business Climate ranks 26th among the 50 states according to the national Tax Foundation’s recent State Business Tax Climate Index. The study ranks the “business tax friendliness,” of each state using five factors: 1) Corporate Income Taxes, 2) Individual Income Tax, 3) Sales and Gross Receipts Tax, 4) Unemployment Insurance Tax, 5) Fiscal [...]

by Howard Stephenson
Governor Walker’s 16 point tax reform plan was described in this column last week as containing several changes which the Utah business community has been seeking for many years.  The most positive parts of the prosal include: 1) lowering our current 7% nominal rate for Utah income taxes a 5% tax on federal taxable income or a [...]

by Howard Stephenson
Last week we reviewed in this column the details of Governor Olene Walker’s 16 point plan for revamping Utah’s tax structure.  It may take some time for people to really understand it, but the more people look at it, the more they like it.

Here is my initial assessment of the proposal, for what it’s worth.

First Impressions

The [...]

By Howard Stephenson
Governor Olene Walker unveiled a comprehensive proposal to overhaul Utah ’s state and local tax system, with particular emphasis on lowering tax rates and broadening the tax base. The Governor has repeatedly emphasized that the proposal is revenue neutral and is intended to reform the system and is not an attempt to increase [...]

By Howard Stephenson
In the past two months three important tax cases were decided before the Utah State Tax Commission and the Utah Tax Court. All three of the cases were decided in favor of the Taxpayer. All three of the cases were decided in favor of the taxpayer. Each case is an example of county [...]

by Howard Stephenson

Utah statewide property tax revenues are expected to reach $1.8 billion in CY2004, an increase of $111 million, or 6.6%, from the previous year. This estimate by the Utah Taxpayers Association includes locally assessed real and personal property, centrally assessed property, and automobile fee-in-lieu of taxes (FIL). Automobile FIL accounted for [...]

By Howard Stephenson
. The West Valley City Council has voted to drop their ambulance service currently provided at no cost to taxpayers by Gold Cross Ambulance. Instead, they have opted for a taxpayer- funded ambulance service to be provided through the local fire department.
I believe this is a huge mistake and I [...]

by Howard Stephenson
A common trick in days gone by involved substituting a cat for a sucking-pig in a bag or a “poke,” and trying to palm it off on greenhorns.  Anyone who fell for this trick was described as buying a pig in a poke.  Wise consumers always opened the sack to examine [...]

by Howard Stephenson
Ever had a good experience at the DMV? You will now!
Six years ago I stood in line at the DMV for over four hours just to license a vehicle I purchased from a private party. It was the worst experience of my life in dealing with a government bureaucracy. Salt Lake County [...]

by Howard Stephenson
George Orwell’s futuristic book 1984, written in 1948, described life under the totalitarian government of Oceania and its attempts to control the thoughts and actions of its citizens by controlling their speech. Newspeak was the enforced language founded on the English language, though many Newspeak words twisted their English meanings to be exactly [...]