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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- More errors have been found in calculating of the cost of the governor's tax reform proposal.
A spokesman said the proposal is dead but tax reform is still the goal.
Gov. Jon Huntsman's proposal for a flatter state income tax, called H3, originally was calculated to reduce revenue by $70 million. Plans for a May special session to further consider the bill were dropped when the state Tax Commission found the cost actually was $105 million.
Now the price tag is put at more than $200 million, legislators said Monday.
Senate Revenue and Taxation Chairman Committee Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said the problem was discovered when a legislative tax expert computed the cost at between $208 million and $243 million, depending on whether retirement income was exempted.
Tax Commission members could not immediately explain the discrepancy, Bramble said.
Tax Commission officials refused to discuss the newest projection errors until they are released Wednesday at a meeting of the Revenue and Taxation Committee.
"They've been working on those figures. They don't want to make those numbers public until then," spokesman Charlie Roberts said.
Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower said, "While tax reform is alive and well, the H3 proposal is deader than a doornail."
The governor will call next week for a routine special session for lawmakers to correct some technical errors in legislation, and Mower said Huntsman also will ask lawmakers to provide a way to check the Tax Commission's math.
Legislators are already drafting a bill that would allow their analysts to share Tax Commission projection data.
"We will be putting that item on the call for the special session," Mower said. "Our goal is to build confidence in the numbers that will be analyzed prior to the adoption of any tax reform. We want to make certain that legislators and other officials and all Utahns are comfortable with the way tax numbers are generated and reviewed."
Under current law, anyone looking at the information must be deputized by the Tax Commission. But allowing an executive agency to deputize legislative staff members would violate the separation of powers.
Lawmakers hope they can craft legislation that will allow their analysts to join the governor's and the Tax Commission's economists in viewing generic tax data that would not violate confidentiality rules.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
