Opinion: SB197 threatens the financial stability of Utah seniors
In five years, low-income seniors throughout Utah, many on fixed incomes, would no longer be able to get any tax relief on their property taxes if Sen. Dan McCay gets his way with SB 197. That's right. Read that sentence again and let it sink in.
Almost 10,000 senior households in the state rely on this relief to help them get by. That could easily be 15-20,000 people. They are your parents, your elderly friends and neighbors, struggling to keep up with rising prices and medical costs while living on fixed incomes.
This is the first time legislation has been proposed to destroy this senior benefit in the over 40 years it's been working for low-income senior Utahns in danger of being taxed out of their homes, which is the reason it was created by the Legislature.
If SB197 passes, the fiscal note says taxpayers might save $4.55 per year in taxes, while costing seniors $930 per year in critical help. What's smarter and more compassionate? That $4.55 per year gets 204 times the return to support our seniors. I think Utahns, with a history of charity, goodwill and caring see the sense in that equation and would be willing to contribute $4.55 once a year to support our low-income seniors. Is it really worth just over a penny a day to force our grandparents from their homes due to increased costs and inflation?
A better solution is Senator Wayne Harper's SB224, keeping the program intact with slight improvements to keep up with inflation and rising costs. What's amazing is that it will cost taxpayers only 68 cents per year, according to the fiscal note analysis! This is the bill the 10,000 Utah households who received this help and those Utahns who support humane tax policy need to support. A prompt call to your legislators and the governor to support SB224 is absolutely critical.
This program is also essential for widows and widowers. Let's remember what happens when a spouse passes when a couple is living on Social Security: you lose the income your spouse was getting, resulting in a severe ongoing cash crunch. Many times medical issues precede the spouse's passing, often impacting the bank account these seniors rely on for co-pays, medications and higher premiums.
Why is this even being proposed? Past reports showed the state's share on the Circuit Breaker program was less than 10% of the cost, with the rest being borne by Utah's counties. Sen. McCay apparently laments chipping in anything, and the fiscal note on Sen. Harper's SB224 estimates that amount will be $4.5 million, a bargain compared to what else our tax dollars go to. How is it that 15-20,000 low-income seniors don't deserve critical relief when last year, just 10,000 students were awarded 18 times that amount, $82 million, through the Utah Fits All Scholarship program? Oddly, in 2023, McCay's committee mandated an increase in costs to the counties of over three times that estimate, resulting in a $14 million cost increase in just one year.
SB197 is also more costly. Many tax administrators around the state are not happy with the deferral program that allows people to not pay their taxes until ownership is transferred. They fear the unpredictability when the numbers of households deferring their taxes vary and their annual budgets fluctuate, while deferral will simultaneously create the need to hire more administrative staff to implement the program when 10,000 households are forced on to it. The deferral program was implemented in Salt Lake and Weber counties in 2023. Dozens applied, but only one household between those two counties benefited. Last year it went statewide and only seven households benefited, while about 10,000 households got homeowner's credit. This failed program is being revamped and the newest experiment is being forced onto the seniors of our state while denying them any opportunity for actual financial relief.
So now you get to make the choice: show love to 10,000 senior low-income households for 68 cents per year, or reap $4.55 in yearly savings.
Please call.
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