Latest news with #HB106
Axios
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
New Utah laws are in effect. Here's how they'll impact you
Several Utah bills passed during the 2025 legislative session went into effect Wednesday. Why it matters: These laws impact everything from how much money you take home to what your children eat for school lunch. Here are some lesser-known laws worth your attention: ✍️ English learners: HB 42 gives public schools emergency funding if they experience a large enrollment increase of English language learners. 💰 Income tax cut: HB 106 lowers the state income tax rate from 4.55% to 4.5%. 🚗 Window tinting: HB 112 bars law enforcement officers from requesting driver's license or car registration suspensions for window tint violations. 🚫 Food additives: HB 402 prevents public schools from serving foods that contain certain additives, like Red Dye 40. Red Dye 40 is commonly found in candies, cereals, sodas and other packaged snacks. 💧 Water rates: HB 274 allows cities to set up tiered water rates to promote conservation. 🎭 Child actors: HB 322 provides legal protections for child actors and social media influencers and mandates that parents or guardians establish trust accounts for them.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New poll: How do Utahns feel about the Legislature's tax cuts this year?
The Utah Legislature passed its tax cut package on Wednesday with a focus on young families and senior citizens. Legislative leadership prioritized keeping their four-year streak of reducing income taxes while making room for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox's requests to expand tax credits for children and Social Security beneficiaries. The House concurred with Senate changes to HB106, Income Tax Revisions, on Wednesday, giving final approval to the bill which would: Decrease the corporate and income tax rates for all Utahns from 4.55% to 4.5%. Give businesses a 20% tax credit for creating new child care options for employees. Expand the child tax credit to include children who are 5 years old and under the age of 1. The House also voted on Wednesday in favor of SB71, Social Security Tax Revisions, to expand the exemption for state income taxes on Social Security benefits for the fourth time since 2021, raising the income caps from $75,000 to $90,000 for a couple, and from $45,000 to $54,000 for individuals. This change fell well short of Cox's budget priority to completely eliminate Utah's tax on Social Security income. But it is the most legislative leadership said they could give in a tight budget year, where $230 million set aside for tax cuts had to be tapped to fund other new spending. 'Thanks to Utah's robust economy and our steadfast conservative policies, we're putting money back where it belongs — with the people who earned it,' Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said. A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted in late February by HarrisX among 805 registered Utah voters found that the most popular tax cut was to the state's flat income tax rate. When asked their opinion about four different potential tax cuts, 87% of Utah voters said they support reducing the income tax, 86% said they support reducing the sales tax on groceries, 81% said they support removing all taxes on Social Security and 75% said they support removing the income tax on Social Security benefits for recipients earning under $100,000 per year. Over the last five years, the Legislature has approved roughly $1.4 billion in tax relief for Utahns. Cox and lawmakers have referred to this as the largest collective tax cut in Utah history. 'The cost of living continues to rise; by continuing to reduce the tax burden, we're ensuring that Utah remains a place of opportunity and prosperity for generations to come,' House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said. HB106, sponsored by Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi, will cost the state more than $103 million in annual tax revenue. SB71, sponsored by Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, will cost the state over $24 million in ongoing tax revenue. Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, supported expanding child tax credits but felt that inserting them in the income tax bill was unfair and put big business over budget needs. 'Combining them with an income tax cut is a coercive and unfair move that mirrors a Washington, D.C., style of political tactics,' Escamilla said. 'This is a disservice to Utah's working families.' Escamilla and her caucus maintained throughout the session they would have preferred Cox's proposal to join the 42 other states who do not tax Social Security, giving an average of $950 in tax relief to over 150,000 Utahns. The Social Security tax credit expansion will impact roughly 90,000 Utahns, Harper said. The .05% reduction to the income tax rate will save a typical Utah family around $45 a year, according to the Utah Taxpayers Association.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Utah Legislature OKs another round of tax cuts, totaling $1.4 billion in 5 years
The Capitol in Salt Lake City is pictured on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) The Republican-controlled Utah Legislature has finalized its 2025 tax cut package, marking a fifth consecutive year of repeated slashes that amount to more than $1.4 billion in revenue the state will no longer capture. The House and Senate late Wednesday gave final legislative approval to two bills that resulted in $127 million more in tax reductions, most of which came from another cut to the state's income tax rate, knocking it down from 4.55% to 4.5%. With a price tag of $103 million, HB106 carried that rate cut, along with two other smaller cuts aimed at helping Utah parents and encouraging businesses to offer more child care options. They included: An expansion to the state's child tax credit, allowing parents to claim a nonrefundable child tax credit for children under 1 year old and up to 5 years old. Enactment of a nonrefundable corporate and individual income tax credit for employer-provided child care. Another bill will open up Utah's Social Security tax credit to more Utahns — but not totally eliminate the state's tax on Social Security benefits, something Gov. Spencer Cox and Democrats supported. Utah Gov. Cox unveils $30.6 billion budget proposal, wants to nix Social Security tax At a cost of about $24 million, SB71 will expand eligibility for the social security tax credit by increasing the income thresholds from $75,000 for households to $90,000. A full repeal would have benefited an estimated 152,000 Utahns with an average savings of $946 on social security taxes. However, now the bill will only result in an average annual tax savings of $257 for an estimated 88,800 Utahns, according to the bill's fiscal note. Republicans supported an income tax rate cut and only a partial social security cut as a way to give tax relief to all Utahns rather than just those who receive social security benefits. 'Once again, we are prioritizing caring for seniors on fixed incomes, supporting young families and championing upward mobility for all Utahns,' Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said in a prepared statement. 'Thanks to Utah's robust economy and our steadfast conservative policies, we're putting money back where it belongs — with the people who earned it,' Adams added. 'By cutting taxes for the fifth year in a row, we're ensuring more of Utahns' hard-earned dollars stay in their pockets, all while maintaining our commitment to essential services and fostering long-term economic growth for future generations.' House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said Utahns 'work hard for their money, and they deserve to keep more of it.' 'This year, we will build on our long-standing commitment to lowering taxes for all Utahns and supporting families,' he said. 'The cost of living continues to rise; by continuing to reduce the tax burden, we're ensuring that Utah remains a place of opportunity and prosperity for generations to come.' However, Democrats and advocacy groups including Voices for Utah Children opposed another income tax rate cut as one that would largely benefit the wealthy while chipping away at revenue that could otherwise be used to fund education and social service programs. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'While the bill includes much-needed efforts to expand access to child care, it irresponsibly ties these critical measures to yet another income tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthiest Utahns while draining resources from essential services,' Senate Democrats said in a prepared statement issued Wednesday night. Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, also balked at combining child tax credits with the income tax rate cut in a single bill, a move that Senate Democrats said 'forces lawmakers to accept harmful fiscal policy in exchange for desperately needed child care support.' 'Combining them with an income tax cut is a coercive and unfair move that mirrors a Washington D.C. style of political tactics,' Escamilla said. 'This is a disservice to Utah's working families.' Senate Democrats said the move wasn't just 'fiscally irresponsible — it's a direct threat to essential services at a time when our budget cannot sustain another tax cut.' 'The average Utah family will see just $45 in annual savings, hardly enough to make a difference, while the wealthiest benefit the most,' Senate Democrats said. 'Meanwhile, Utah's lower- and middle-income families continue to pay the highest share of their income in taxes.' According to an analysis posted by the advocacy group Voices for Utah Children, this year's income tax rate cut will save Utah's top 1% earners (or those making more than $882,100 a year) $1,929 annually, while the bottom 20% (or those earning up to $36,000 a year) will save only $13 a year. When factoring the four previous tax cuts, the top 1% has saved $17,361, while the bottom 20% has saved only $106 a year. Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi, who sponsored HB106, argued on the House floor last week that Utah's budget has grown as its enjoyed a strong economy and that Utah lawmakers have committed more money to education while also cutting taxes. 'This is just a little bit in a long string of several years now of measured cuts to help reduce the burden on income tax for individuals and businesses,' he said. But House Minority Whip Jen Dailey Provost, D-Salt Lake City, expressed 'deep concern that we continue to erode our income tax and our education funding.' She said she was more supportive of eliminating the social security tax. 'We need to be very thoughtful about how quickly we cut income tax in the state of Utah, particularly when so many of ours social services and so many vulnerable communities continue to be left behind,' she said. The House ultimately voted 58-13 to give final legislative passage to HB106, while the Senate voted 23-6. The partial social security tax cut received much broader, bipartisan support, passing unanimously in both bodies. What's in Utah's $30 billion budget? Here's what lawmakers are prioritizing for 2025 The bills now go to the governor. While he has previously said now is the time for Utah to get rid of its tax on social security benefits, he's also expressed a willingness to support tax cuts in whatever form lawmakers prefer. Notably, the $127 million tax cut package didn't eat up the entirety of the $165 million in revenue lawmakers previously set aside in December for some form of tax relief. The remaining $38 million will instead be sent back to the state's rainy day funds, 'emphasizing lawmakers' commitment to fiscal prudence and planning ahead,' a Senate press release said. Meanwhile, many funding requests went unfunded this year. Leftover ongoing income tax revenue could have been used for additional funding increases to education. Republican legislative leaders did use about $178 million for a 4% increase to the weighted pupil unit (a rate used to calculate how much money each school should receive) — but that amount was the minimum the state was required by law to fund for inflation and enrollment growth. The Utah Education Association wanted at least a 3% increase to the WPU in addition to the statutorily required minimum. However, lawmakers opted to increase education funding in different ways. They used $50 million for a $1,446 salary increase for teachers, plus $50 million for $1,000 bonuses for educator support staff, which Gov. Spencer Cox and Republican legislative leaders paraded in a news conference last week. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Gov. Cox's promise to kill the Social Security tax dead in the water?
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox told lawmakers a week before the 2025 legislative session that he had given them 'a gift' by pushing for the end of state taxes on Social Security. But in return for Cox making this proposal a 'cornerstone' of his budget, the Legislature appears ready to present Cox with a pebble. On Monday, the Senate Taxation Committee advanced a bill that would eliminate the state tax on Social Security but only under the condition that bill sponsor Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, narrowed his bill substantially to fit within the 'socks and underwear' budget this year. Instead, lawmakers are looking at another across the board income tax cut, and increasing the tax credit only slightly for Social Security recipients. In its current form, Harper's SB71 would build on Social Security tax credit expansions from 2021, 2022 and 2023 by completely removing the caps on income, which currently stand at $75,000 for households filing jointly and $45,000 for individuals. During the presentation of his fiscal year 2026 budget recommendations, Cox said it was an 'embarrassment' that Utah is one of only eight states that plans to continue taxing a portion of Social Security payments in the upcoming year. 'This is, I would say, easily the most popular proposal that I've made in the past four years,' Cox told a room full of legislators in January, adding jokingly, 'I lament what will happen to you if you don't do it.' While the policy change would give roughly 150,000 senior Utahns an average annual tax break of $950, doing so would cost the state an estimated $144 million in revenue for the upcoming fiscal year — money lawmakers are unwilling to part with. In Monday's hearing, Harper acknowledged there wasn't enough in the budget to fully fund the governor's proposal. But he said it was important to chip away at the Social Security tax to make sure individuals are not being taxed twice on money that was already taken out of their paycheck. Senate Taxation Chair Dan McCay, R-Riverton, spoke forcefully against Harper's bill, arguing that it would exacerbate the problem of consolidating wealth among those who are over the age of 65 in the country. 'I believe that this bill is morally wrong and we are hurting our children,' McCay said in explaining his 'no' vote. Budget committee members met in December to set aside new revenues to ensure they'd have enough for a fourth consecutive year of tax cuts. But the $231 million they set aside was placed under additional scrutiny when updated projections found that new revenues would be $100 million less than expected. Despite opposition from Democrats who have lamented the social services that will go unfunded, as in past years, legislative leadership have chosen to prioritize a blanket cut to income taxes. On Thursday, the House passed HB106, which would decrease the corporate and income tax rates for all Utahns from 4.55% to 4.5%, saving the typical Utah family around $45 a year. The bill was amended on the House floor to incorporate separate bills that would create a large tax credit for businesses that build child care facilities and that would expand the child tax credit to include children who are 5 years old and under the age of 1. The total cost of the new law, if it passes the Senate and signed by the governor, will be nearly $126 million in FY2026, leaving no room for Cox's elimination of the Social Security tax, according to legislative leadership. On Monday, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and Majority Whip Chris Wilson, R-Logan, said Harper's bill will likely be amended to increase the Social Security tax credit by $5,000-20,000, depending on how budget conversations go during the final week of the 2025 legislative session. Bill sponsor of the income tax cut, Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi, told the Deseret News that he had originally planned to sponsor the bill to end the tax on Social Security benefits. He predicted that the Legislature would be able to find enough funding to remove the Social Security tax for all those making below $90,000-100,000. But he said lawmakers will continue to prioritize income tax cuts for all Utahns. 'We can cut programs, we can do things that make government more efficient and give people that money to be able to use how they see fit,' Christofferson said.
