(KCPW News) A bill that would have taken nearly $100 million out of the state budget each year to save for the future narrowly failed in the Utah House of Representatives Monday. Republican Representative Jim Nielson’s plan would have changed the way Utah spends its severance tax, which is levied on mining industries, by putting it into the Permanent State Trust Fund.
“Those severance tax dollars are related to non-renewable resources, oil, gas and minerals that come out of the ground,” Nielson said. ” I don’t believe they belong just to this generation; I think they belong to the future as well. We claim to be the bet managed state in the nation, we’re told that’s what we are, but I really think being well managed doesn’t just mean that we balance the books today, but that we also save for the future.”
But those who opposed the bill, like Democratic Representative Brian King, say while saving for the future is important, it shouldn’t trump funding today’s important programs.
“HB 210 would have taken all the money that comes froms severance taxes and put in a permanent trust fund,” King said. ” The problem with that is that it basically blows a hole in the budget and that was our concern. The general fund is used for a lot of things, just about everything you can think of that the state of Utah covers, and there was no discussion on the part of the bill sponsor about how we patch that hole.”
The bill failed in a narrow 36-to-39 vote. Representative Nielsen says he plans to bring it back next year.
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