Tax and Budget

The 2018 Utah Legislative Session will take place from January 22 to March 8, with 45 days chock full of long committee meetings, urgent Action Alerts, conversations between community members and legislators, demonstrations on the steps of the State Capitol Building and much more! 

We'll be following a lot of different bills during the 2018 session, not all of which will be made public before the session officially begins. Some bills are introduced with language that we support, and then that language changes over the course of the legislative process. Occasionally, the changes are subtantial enough to warrant a change in our position. We will do our best to keep this list of bills - as well as our positions - updated for your information, but it can be tricky when things are so busy for our staff during this crazy time of year. 

We are working on several bills that will be priorities for us in 2018. You can learn more about these priority legislative proposals by clicking on the topic links below. 

Tax and Budget Issues

Creating a State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Restoring Investment in Children

Health Issues

12-Month Continuous Eligibility for Utah Kids with Medicaid

Maternal Health

Oral Health

Health Coverage

Early Childhood Care & Education Issues

High Quality Child Care

Governance and Coordination of Early Childcare Services

Juvenile Justice Issues

Implementing Juvenile Justice Reform

Bills

News Contact Lawmakers  Sign Up for E-AlertsFollow @utchildren

For 30 years now, Voices for Utah Children has called on our state, federal and local leaders to put children’s needs first. But the work is not done. The children of 30 years ago now have children of their own. Too many of these children are growing up in poverty, without access to healthcare or quality educational opportunities.

How can you be involved?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Voices for Utah Children—or join our Network with a monthly donation of $20 or more.  Network membership includes complimentary admission to Network events with food, socializing, and opportunity to meet child advocacy experts. And don't forget to join our listserv to stay informed!

We look forward to the future of Voices for Utah Children and we hope you will be a part of our next 30 years.

For Printable Version Maternal Mental Health Support Flyer

For 30 years now, Voices for Utah Children has called on our state, federal and local leaders to put children’s needs first. But the work is not done. The children of 30 years ago now have children of their own. Too many of these children are growing up in poverty, without access to healthcare or quality educational opportunities.

How can you be involved?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Voices for Utah Children—or join our Network with a monthly donation of $20 or more.  Network membership includes complimentary admission to Network events with food, socializing, and opportunity to meet child advocacy experts. And don't forget to join our listserv to stay informed!

We look forward to the future of Voices for Utah Children and we hope you will be a part of our next 30 years.

Special thanks to American Express, our "Making a Difference All Year Long" sponsor. 

The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) lifts 60,000 Utahns out of poverty each year, half of them children, by letting low-income families keep more of what they earn.

EITC helps working families make ends meet.

EITC keeps families working.

EITC reduces poverty, especially among children.

EITC put $426 mil. back into Utah’s economy in 2017.

A state EITC targeted to families living in intergenerational poverty (IGP) will give a boost to the 25,000 working families who qualify for the federal EITC and file state taxes.

It will ensure that eligible working families receive 10% of federal EITC - up to $640 depending on income and number of children.

A state EITC may increase participation in the federal EITC. Only 75% of tax filers take advantage of the federal EITC

No bureaucracy or staff to administer.

FISCAL IMPACT

$6 million from General Fund which is a small portion of the over $25 million in state and local taxes paid every year by these working families.

Simply put, 58,820 children identified as living in intergenerational poverty amounts to $102 per child.

STATES WITH A STATE EITC

Twenty-nine states across the nation and political spectrum have created state EITCs.

EITC has strong bipartisan support

 “… the proposed EITC helps people who are ready and able to help themselves escape intergenerational poverty through work…It is both sound economic policy and prudent welfare policy… It is good for those in poverty, good for the economy, and good for taxpayers as well.” Sutherland Institute

“I know of no public policy innovation over the past 30 years to help low-income individuals that has as much promise as Utah’s intergenerational poverty work. When combined with an EITC, Utah will be able to show the nation how public policies that are targeted, incentivize work, are fiscally constrained and include measurable outcomes are the best way to help families and children with great need.”

Natalie Gochnour

Associate Dean, David Eccles School of Business,

University of Utah, Deseret News column, March 1, 2018

For 30 years now, Voices for Utah Children has called on our state, federal and local leaders to put children’s needs first. But the work is not done. The children of 30 years ago now have children of their own. Too many of these children are growing up in poverty, without access to healthcare or quality educational opportunities.

How can you be involved?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Voices for Utah Children—or join our Network with a monthly donation of $20 or more.  Network membership includes complimentary admission to Network events with food, socializing, and opportunity to meet child advocacy experts. And don't forget to join our listserv to stay informed!

We look forward to the future of Voices for Utah Children and we hope you will be a part of our next 30 years.

Special thanks to American Express, our "Making a Difference All Year Long" sponsor. 

In January 2015, the Utah Foundation reported that Utah’s overall tax burden, including all state and local taxes and fees, had fallen to its lowest level in at least 20 years: “Over the past several years, tax cuts have reduced Utah’s annual revenues by $479 million.” 

As a result, our investment in education remains well below pre-recession levels. Per-pupil state formula funding for K-12 education is down 11.9% from FY 2008 to 2017 (the current fiscal year). This 11.9% drop measures just the state contribution that constitutes two-thirds of our total public education budget. But the picture is no better when we look at the older data that include both state and local funding, which showed us seventh worst in the nation with a 17% drop in per-pupil expenditure for 2008-2014. The Voices for Utah Children's Utah Children’s Budget Report 2015 found that FY2014 real state spending per child remained 6% below pre-recession levels. Moreover, investment in K-12 education in particular has actually fallen in real terms since the 2008-2009 recession, before even accounting for the 7% growth in the number of children in Utah from FY2008 to FY2014.

While everyone enjoys paying lower taxes and having more dollars in our pockets today, these findings raise important questions about whether the current generation of Utahns is doing its part, as earlier generations did, to invest in our children and lay the foundations for Utah’s future growth and prosperity.

Moreover, recent data on high school graduation rates and college degrees raise warning signs that should concern all Utahns. Every racial and ethnic group in our state — including our two largest populations, whites and Hispanics — is below national averages for high school graduation rates. At the level of higher education, Utah’s share of college degrees among our younger generation has not kept up with the increases seen nationally.

Opponents of new education revenues have for years counseled patience, assuring us that the economic boom that will generate new public education revenues is just around the corner or perhaps just another tax cut away. How long will we wait and watch our educational performance suffer — endangering our future prosperity — before taking seriously the challenge before us?

Printer-friendly Version:

2017 Children's Fiscal Policy Agenda

More Information:

Utah Tax Reform Proposals: Who Wins and Who Loses?

Tax Reform and Utah's Most Vulnerable Populations

For 30 years now, Voices for Utah Children has called on our state, federal and local leaders to put children’s needs first. But the work is not done. The children of 30 years ago now have children of their own. Too many of these children are growing up in poverty, without access to healthcare or quality educational opportunities.

How can you be involved?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Voices for Utah Children—or join our Network with a monthly donation of $20 or more.  Network membership includes complimentary admission to Network events with food, socializing, and opportunity to meet child advocacy experts. And don't forget to join our listserv to stay informed!

We look forward to the future of Voices for Utah Children and we hope you will be a part of our next 30 years.

Special thanks to American Express for sponsoring our 30th Anniversary Year. 

For 30 years now, Voices for Utah Children has called on our state, federal and local leaders to put children’s needs first. But the work is not done. The children of 30 years ago now have children of their own. Too many of these children are growing up in poverty, without access to healthcare or quality educational opportunities.

How can you be involved?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Voices for Utah Children—or join our Network with a monthly donation of $20 or more.  Network membership includes complimentary admission to Network events with food, socializing, and opportunity to meet child advocacy experts. And don't forget to join our listserv to stay informed!

We look forward to the future of Voices for Utah Children and we hope you will be a part of our next 30 years.

Special thanks to American Express, our "Making a Difference All Year Long" sponsor. 

This op-ed by Voices for Utah Children State Priorities Partnership Director Matthew Weinstein originally appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune on October 29, 2016.

This month saw the publication of new state and federal data on high school graduation rates for the 2014-15 school year. "Utah high school graduation rate above average: 84.8 percent" crowed the headline of the Associated Press coverage carried in many Utah newspapers. But a closer look at the data reveals a more troubling picture.

For the nation as a whole, high school graduation rates have been rising steadily in recent years. When broken out by race and ethnicity, the data show progress across the board, but also substantial disparities.

Here are the data for U.S. high school graduation rates in 2015: U.S. overall, 83.2 percent; whites, 87.6 percent; Latinos, 77.8 percent; Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, 90.2 percent; African Americans, 74.6 percent; American Indians, 71.6 percent.

And here are the equivalent data for Utah in 2015: Utah overall, 84.8 percent; whites, 87.4 percent; Latinos 74.4 percent, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, 86.0 percent; African Americans, 70.0 percent; American Indians, 70.0 percent.

Two things stand out about these data:

1) Utah is ahead of the national average in the overall high school graduation rate.

2) Every single ethnic/racial group in Utah is behind its own group's national average, including our two largest populations, whites and Hispanics.

How is it possible that we are ahead of the national average overall but behind within each individual ethnic/racial group? The answer is simple math: we have a higher-than-average share of whites, who have a higher than average high school graduation rate. Utah's population is 79 percent non-Hispanic white, while the national average is 62 percent.

But should we be concerned that every racial/ethnic group in Utah is behind the national graduation rates for its own group? We should, for several reasons:

1) Regarding our white majority, these data should prompt us to ask: Why has the white population in Utah over the last few years been 0.2-0.6 points behind whites nationally? Could it be that even Utah's highest-in-the-nation level of two-parent families and high levels of parent volunteerism are not enough to overcome the detrimental effects of our lowest-in-the-nation level of per-pupil funding, even among the most economically secure segment of our population?

2) Our Hispanic minority is growing fast — now reaching 14 percent of the state's population — and 17 percent of our children. This means that Latinos are one-sixth of our future workforce. The fact that their graduation rate is 10.4 points behind the state average — and 3.4 points behind Latinos nationally — should be cause for very great concern.

3) Our two smallest minorities, African Americans and American Indians, together make up 3 percent of our population and fall 15 percentage points behind the state average for high school graduation rates, our largest disparity.

These alarming findings come just a few months after it was reported that Utah has now, for the first time on record, fallen behind the national average for college degrees (bachelor's degrees and higher among our working-age population ages 25-64). Taken together, these new data show Utah underperforming at both the high school and college levels, seriously weakening the case made by those who argue that new revenues are unnecessary because we achieve good results in spite of low investment.

Following a decade of tax cutting, Utah's overall tax burden (including all state and local taxes and fees) is at a multi-decade low. Utah's sub-par educational performance raises an important question about whether the current generation of Utahns is doing its part, as earlier generations did, to set aside sufficient resources to invest in our children and lay the foundations for our future growth and prosperity. While raising taxes is rarely popular, any mom or dad will tell you that sometimes you have to eat your broccoli, whether you like it or not.

On the topic of low investment, this month also saw the release of a new national report that found Utah ranks sixth worst in the nation for our drop in per-pupil state formula funding for K-12 education — down 11.9 percent from FY 2008 to 2017 (the current fiscal year). This 11.9 percent drop measures just the state contribution that constitutes two-thirds of our total public education budget. But the picture is no better when we look at the older data that include both state and local funding, which showed us seventh worst in the nation with a 17 percent drop in per-pupil expenditure for 2008-2014.

Opponents of new education revenues have for years counseled patience. They have for years assured us that the economic boom that will generate new public education revenues is just around the corner or perhaps just another tax cut away. How long will we wait and watch our educational performance suffer — endangering our future prosperity — before taking seriously the challenge before us?

For 30 years now, Voices for Utah Children has called on our state, federal and local leaders to put children’s needs first. But the work is not done. The children of 30 years ago now have children of their own. Too many of these children are growing up in poverty, without access to healthcare or quality educational opportunities.

How can you be involved?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Voices for Utah Children—or join our Network with a monthly donation of $20 or more.  Network membership includes complimentary admission to Network events with food, socializing, and opportunity to meet child advocacy experts. And don't forget to join our listserv to stay informed!

We look forward to the future of Voices for Utah Children and we hope you will be a part of our next 30 years.

Special thanks to American Express, our "Making a Difference All Year Long" sponsor. 

This week saw the publication of new state and federal data on high school graduation rates for the school year than ended in June 2015. “Utah high school graduation rate above average: 84.8 percent” crowed the headline of the AP coverage carried in many Utah newspapers. But a closer look at the data reveals a more troubling picture.

It is a well-known and highly distressing fact of American life that we suffer from tremendous disparities among our various racial and ethnic groups in many social and economic characteristics, including educational attainment. For the nation as a whole, here are the high school graduation rates trends over the past few years, broken out by race and ethnicity:

Now here are the equivalent data for Utah:

Two things about these data stand out:
1) Utah is ahead of the national average in the overall high school graduation rate. Bravo for us!
2) Every single ethnic/racial group in Utah is behind its own group’s national average, including our two largest groups, whites and Hispanics. Huh?

How is it possible that we are ahead of the national average overall but behind within each individual ethnic/racial group? The answer is simple math: we have a higher-than-average share of whites, who have a higher than average high school graduation rate. Utah’s population is 79% non-Hispanic white, while the national average is 62%. Thus, the fact that we have a higher share of a group with a higher graduation rate gives us an advantage in the overall high school graduation rate.

But should we be concerned that every racial/ethnic group in Utah is behind the national graduation rates for its own group? We should, for at least two reasons:

1) Inevitably we have to ask, why has the white population in Utah over the last few years been 0.2-0.6 points behind whites nationally? Could it be that even Utah’s highest-in-the-nation level of two-parent families and high levels of parent volunteerism are not enough to overcome the detrimental effects of our lowest-in-the-nation level of per-pupil funding, even among our white population? That would certainly appear to be the case.

2) Our Hispanic minority is growing fast – now reaching 14% of the state’s population -- and 17% of our children. This means that Latinos are one-sixth of our future workforce. The fact that their graduation rate is 10 points behind the state average – and 3.4 points behind Latinos nationally – should be cause for very great concern.

These alarming findings come just a few months after Voices for Utah Children reported that Utah has now, for the first time on record, fallen behind the national average for college degrees (Bachelor’s degrees and higher among our working-age population ages 25-64). Taken together, these developments should sound a red alert among our state’s policymakers.

Sources:
http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2014-15.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2013-14.asp
http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2012-13.asp

For 30 years now, Voices for Utah Children has called on our state, federal and local leaders to put children’s needs first. But the work is not done. The children of 30 years ago now have children of their own. Too many of these children are growing up in poverty, without access to healthcare or quality educational opportunities.

How can you be involved?

Make a tax-deductible donation to Voices for Utah Children—or join our Network with a monthly donation of $20 or more.  Network membership includes complimentary admission to Network events with food, socializing, and opportunity to meet child advocacy experts. And don't forget to join our listserv to stay informed!

We look forward to the future of Voices for Utah Children and we hope you will be a part of our next 30 years.

Special thanks to American Express, our "Making a Difference All Year Long" sponsor.