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John Hollenhorst ReportingA statewide petition drive is headed into its last week. Support is strong, but it's turning into a bit of a cliffhanger.
The question is whether Utahns should voluntarily tax themselves for more of something most of us say we love -- open space and parks.
If you say you love open space and parks, scenery and outdoor recreation, would you put your money where your mouth is?
Volunteers and paid personnel have been collecting signatures for weeks. They want voters to decide whether to raise sales taxes slightly over the next ten years. It would raise 150 million dollars to buy, protect and rehabilitate land, and to create parks and trails. Support is coming from a broad bi-partisan spectrum.
Sen. Greg Bell, (R) Davis County: "They're not making any more land and they're certainly not making any more open land. And we need to preserve what we have right now or we're going to lose so much of it."
At a campaign office in Salt Lake City they've counted about 80,000 signatures so far. It's close to what they need.
Kate Ferguson, Volunteer: “Confident. Yep, I think we’re going to make it.”
But the Utah Taxpayers Association, a pro-businesss group, is dead set against it.
Mike Jerman, Utah Taxpayers Association: "Of course the biggest objection we have is that it's a new tax. We're already the seventh highest tax state."
Sen. Greg Bell: "It is a very minimal tax. It's one tenth of one percent on our sales tax. Much of it will be paid by tourists."
It's actually less than he thought -- it's one 20th of one percent, but the taxpayers association also argues it's bad tax policy for voters to tie the hands of lawmakers by earmarking money for a specific cause, no matter how worthy.
Mike Jerman: "And every year they should be up there at the legislature, like everybody else, fighting for funding."
But advocates say lawmakers never have and never will put serious money into open-space.
Sen. Greg Bell: "The beauty of it is, the people speak directly. We're going to find out how they feel."
The deadline for signatures is next Tuesday.
A new state law presents major hurdles for the initiative. They're required to get 10 percent of the number that voted for Governor the last time around, and they have to do it in 26 out of 29 senate districts.
