Policy News
Social Trust report: Utah outperforms nation, region
Today, the Utah Foundation releases the second report in its new Utah Social Capital Series with The Kindness of Strangers: Social Trust in Utah. This installment focuses on social trust; the previous installment focused on civic engagement. The Kindness of Strangers presents data and analysis on four hard indicators: convictions for fraud, penalties for breach of trust, public corruption convictions and violent crime rates. It looks at Utahâs performance on these measures over time, comparing the Beehive State both to the seven other Mountain States and to the nation at large.
Among the findings of the new report:
- Social trust in the United States has declined dramatically on multiple fronts â including trust in government, trust in institutions, trust in the judgment of fellow citizens, trust of each other and trust in the mass media.
- Utah compares favorably on the measures of social trust employed in this report. The Beehive State outperforms the nation at large across the board. (Read More)
Legislative Redistricting Committee continues through map drawing process
Today, the Independent Redistricting Commission presented its final map recommendations to the Legislative Redistricting Committee.
The Legislative Redistricting Committee will now continue to work on maps to propose to the public and full Legislature, taking into consideration the additional public input and commission recommendations received today. The committee will hold a public meeting to discuss the chairâs recommended congressional, legislative and state school board maps on Monday, November 8.
The Legislatureâs special session to adopt maps is planned to begin on November 9. Maps will be adopted in mid-to-late November to give sufficient time for county clerks to enter data for elections. (Read More)
Massive year-end surplus and the first quarter of 2022 make the case for a reasonable tax cut
Every month â with the exception of August and September â we watch for the State Tax Commissionâs TC-23. The report provides a snapshot view of the Stateâs revenue picture. As we have been saying for over a year now, revenue is incredibly strong. The first quarter of 2022 shows a blowout picture for tax revenue.
In addition to an (yet to be released) $800 million or more FY 2021 revenue surplus, the first quarter of 2022 shows an even brighter picture. The TC-23 shows sales tax up 22.1%, corporate tax up 24.4%, and income tax withholding up 18.7% (the income tax final payments number, -87.4%, is due to a timing shift and shouldnât be counted on for a realistic picture). Now, we donât think legislators should count on these high growth rates for the remainder of 2022 because if these growth rates were to hold, the 2022 revenue surplus would be in the multiple billions. What is reasonable to assume is that the ongoing revenue picture is healthy enough to lower the income tax rate to 4.5% and help Utahâs families. (Read More)
DMOS Collective finds Utah âShovel-Readyâ
The Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah), Salt Lake City, and the Utah Governorâs Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) are pleased to announce that DMOS Collective is moving its operations from Wyoming to Utah, bringing up to 15 jobs to the state in the next several years.
DMOS Collective designs, manufactures and distributes pro grade, American-made car, off-road, and snow shovels, storage products, and goods. The company was founded in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 2015 with a successful Kickstarter campaign for a tough, packable shovel that could thrive under heavy loads in remote, mountain environments. Since then, DMOS has built three collections of premium, pro-grade shovels each of which serves a different function for car, truck, hunt camp, base camp, or home. DMOSâs shovels are used by everyday roadtrippers as well as overlanders, off-roaders, van lifers, hunters, skiers and snowboarders, as well as enforcers, defenders, and responders. DMOS is sold direct to consumers as well as through premium offroad, overland and van build dealers and outdoor and sporting goods retailers such as REI. (Read More)
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