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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah lawmaker sponsoring a bill to increase the personal income tax rate for education has made changes that he hopes will make the bill easier to swallow for Utah families and other lawmakers.
HB54 proposed increasing Utah's personal income tax rate by 1 percent, which would have meant an additional $575 in taxes each year for a median income family of four.
But a substitute bill cuts that amount in half, with an income tax increase of 0.5 percent, meaning $288 in additional taxes for the same family, according to bill sponsor Rep. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan.
"There's some crucial changes that have occurred," Draxler said Thursday. "It makes it more palatable for all of us, including me."
Draxler said revised estimates put annual revenues from the bill at $720 million, more than $100 million above original estimates.
"I thought, 'I can't ask the public for that much,'" he said.
The substitute bill would generate $176.2 million in revenue for education.
Allocations of the funds have also changed. The original bill would have allocated 75 percent of the money for performance-based salary increases for teachers, and 25 percent for technology instruction and training programs.
The substitute bill puts 50 percent of the funds toward performance-based salary increases, 25 percent for technology programs and the other 25 percent toward across-the-board teacher salary increases. Draxler said designating part of the funds for widespread salary raises will improve starting wages for new educators, creating better competition for teaching jobs in the state.
"I'm just trying to elevate the teaching profession," he said. "I think it's crucial that we do that if we ever want to elevate our system to a world-class system."
Several polls have shown somewhat conflicting opinions of HB54. A UtahPolicy.com poll released early this month said 54 percent of voters were against a 1 percent increase to the income tax, Utah's primary source of funds for education. A later poll by Utah State University and the Exoro Group showed 59 percent of voters favored the increase knowing the funds would be for classrooms, not school administration.
"The question is: Are we willing to do that?" Draxler said. "I believe families are, if it goes to the classroom."
Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh, president of the Utah Education Association, said she admires Draxler for being "courageous" in sponsoring such a bill and sparking a discussion on reforming education funding.
"We're very appreciative of that fact," Gallagher-Fishbaugh said. "I think any time we can have a conversation about getting adequate funding — we're not talking about excessive, we're talking about adequate funding, sustainable funding — it's a good conversation to have."
Billy Hesterman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, said Draxler's altered plan doesn't change the fact that it would mean more money coming out of the wallets of families and businesses.
"A tax increase is a tax increase," said Hesterman, who agreed that performance-based funding and technology programs would be beneficial to Utah schools.
"But to fund it through a tax increase, we just think it's the wrong avenue to go," he said. "There's still a concern that it's going to hang a 'closed for business' sign on the front of the state."
The Utah Education Association hasn't taken an official position on the bill. But Gallagher-Fishbaugh said she hopes the bill will get a favorable recommendation when it is discussed by the House Education Committee on Monday in order to allow more legislators to join the conversation.
"I would hope that the bill would go to the floor because I think that if it passes out of committee, you'll hear many more voices weighing in on it," she said. "That is what I would really hope to hear, just so we actually get the discussion out into the larger body of the House as a whole and hear where folks are on this." Email: mjacobsen@deseretnews.com Twitter: MorganEJacobsen
