Voices for Utah Children Articles

  • Property Taxes Fill the Gap

    When we cut income taxes, it's property taxes that help cover our schools. Utah’s public schools serve over 670,000 kids in more than 1,000 public schools. For a long time, Utah was praised for its fair school funding system, making sure high-poverty...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Taylor Throne, Jenna Williams
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • How to Strengthen Utah's Child Tax Credit in 2025

    In 2023, Utah introduced its own child tax credit (CTC) marking a positive step forward. In 2024, the credit was slightly expanded. However, the credit's limited scope falls short of providing real assistance to families raising young children....

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Jenna Williams
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Tax Policy 101: State Child Tax Credit

    What is the State Child Tax Credit? Utah’s Child Tax Credit (CTC) allows eligible families to claim up to an additional $1,000 per qualifying child each year on their state taxes. Whether a parent stays home or both parents work, this tax credit can...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Jenna Williams
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Another Year, Another Tax Cut: Who Benefits?

    Key Takeaways Minimal Savings, Major Loss: Another tax cut in 2025 will remove about $100M from essential services, pushing total cuts to about $1.3B annually—funds that could strengthen schools, childcare, and healthcare. Wealthy Win, Families Lose:...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Jenna Williams
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Vouchers 101: The Basics of Utah's New School Privatization Program

    For the first time, during the 2024-25 school year, Utah parents are able to access public taxpayer funding to enroll their child in private religious schools, or to cover home-schooling expenses. In this post, we’ll talk about the basics of how the...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog
  • Fork in the road with signs pointing to private school or public school

    Series: Vouchers and School Privatization in Utah

    Utah’s expansive school voucher program was unceremoniously pushed into existence by the Utah State Legislature in 2023. Since then, $82.5 million in Utah taxpayer money has been diverted into the program, with no evidence that 1) Utahns want to pay...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Tracking Utah's K-12 Education Funding

    It’s official: Utah returns to ranking last in the nation for per-pupil education spending. While the national average is $15,633, Utah’s spending stands at $9,552 per student, placing the state 51st for Fiscal Year 2022.[i] Let’s dive into the data to...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Jenna Williams, Taylor Throne
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Bad for Kids: Important Information on Amendment A

    The well-deserved negative attention to Amendment D–ruled void by a Utah judge for being “false and misleading”–has more people asking, “What exactly is in Amendment A?” To start, there are several similarities between Amendments A and D: Voices for...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • What the Legislature’s New Constitutional Amendment Means for Education

    As the November elections approach, one crucial issue on the ballot is the proposed amendment to end the constitutional mandate Utah voters passed decades ago, directing the legislature to use state income tax to fund public education. This proposal...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Abdikadir Eftin, Anna Thomas
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Tax Cuts Hurt Kids

    Why Voices Opposes Proposed Income Tax Cuts Over the past four years, Utah's Legislative Leadership has consistently prioritized tax cuts above the needs of Utah's families. Despite a $400 million tax cut passed last year that benefited the most...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Jenna Williams
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Making Utah Taxes Fair for All Families

    Most of us don't enjoy paying taxes. We do it, though, because pooling our money together through taxes makes it possible for us to have roads, schools, libraries and parks, fire fighters and law enforcement, and so many more public goods that none of...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Taylor Throne
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Empower Utah Families with Better Income Tax Credits

    When it comes to improving the lives of hardworking Utahns, we need policies that help those who are struggling to make ends meet. A refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) could do just that. Let's start by discussing what the earned income tax...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Taylor Thorne
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Summary of the Tax Cuts Passed by the 2023 Utah Legislature

    The Legislature finished its 2023 General Session last Friday evening, March 3rd. In the area of tax policy, we've prepared the chart above to summarize the tax cuts passed this year. The tax cuts that will go into effect in the next year add up to...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Utah Education Funding: Legislative Leadership vs The Data

    At two large pre-legislative events in the second week of January, hundreds of attendees heard Utah's Senate President proudly assert that Utah was the only state that increased education funding during the pandemic. Every year, especially around the...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Invest in Utah's Future Coalition: $5.6b of unmet needs should be prioritized over tax cuts

    BROAD COALITION CALLS FOR INVESTMENT IN UTAH’S FUTURE RATHER THAN TAX CUTS, DOCUMENTS $5.6 BILLION IN URGENT UNMET NEEDS Salt Lake City – On Monday, January 23, 2023 at the Utah State Capitol, a broad and diverse coalition of advocates for the poor,...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • 2022 Legislative Session: Tax Policy: Giving In Again to the Tax Cut Temptation

    The story of tax policy in the 2022 Legislative session is a tale of two tax cuts: A large, top-heavy cut to the income tax rate from 4.95% to 4.85%. How large? $164 million. How top-heavy? 63% of it goes to the top 20% of taxpayers. all of whom have...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Invest in Utah's Future, Not Tax Cuts

    BROAD COALITION CALLS FOR INVESTMENT IN UTAH’S FUTURE, NOT TAX CUTS, DOCUMENTS $5.2 BILLION IN URGENT UNMET NEEDS Salt Lake City – On Monday, November 8, 2021 on the steps of the Utah Capitol, a broad and diverse coalition of advocates for the poor,...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • The High Price of Lower Taxes

    Legislative leaders have said that 2021 should be “the year of the tax cut.” Numerous public opinion surveys show that Utahns disagree. This may come as a surprise to policymakers, who have been in the habit of handing out tax break after tax break for...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Voices for Utah Children announces opposition to Constitutional Amendment G

    (view this as a pdf here) The state's leading child research and advocacy organization Voices for Utah Children announced its opposition to Constitutional Amendment G in an online press conference today (Monday, October 5, 2020). Constitutional...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog

  • Utah Tax Incidence History: 1995 - 2018

    Utah Tax Incidence History 1995 - 2018 Utah is in the midst of the most intense debate over taxes that our state has seen in many years. In December the Legislature passed a major tax restructuring package following a year of public hearings and...

    • Type: Article
    • Author: Matthew Weinstein
    • Category: Updates & Blog
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