Salt Lake County facing not one but two tax hikes in 2013

November 9, 2012 by Daniel Burton

In an act bereft of leadership, Peter Corroon‘s goodbye gift to Salt Lake County is a proposed 17.5% property tax increase. The proposal comes just days after voters in Salt Lake County approved a $47 million bond (Proposition 1) for parks and trails and chose Democrat Ben McAdams–who promised to “will hold the line on taxes“–to replace Corroon. Both would take effect in 2013.

Corroon says that Salt Lake County requires a property tax hike of $39.9 million to fill the gap between revenues and his $788 million budget. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, County Council members have been presented with multiple demonstrations over the last year that show how inflation has eroded the County’s purchasing power 26% since the last property tax increase in 2001.

Ironically, the tax increase is only slightly smaller than the ONLY tax increase the Utah legislature has imposed on the entire state since the economy entered recession, a cigarette sales tax of $43 million. In contrast, voters have the choice of not buying cigarettes if they don’t approve of the tax. Property owners don’t have the same option.

Meanwhile, Corroon’s successor is demonstrating his leadership by avoiding taking any position on the issue.

McAdams told the Salt Lake Tribune. “I have a lot of questions that I’m going to be asking. At the same time, I want to recognize that I don’t take office until January and don’t want to overstep my bounds.”

Hogwash. McAdams predecessor just saved McAdams from doing what McAdams promised to do during his campaign–find inefficiencies in County government and streamline them to save money–but that he has little skill or experience actually doing.

To be clear, I’m not opposed to taxes for oppositions sake. There is an appropriate time and place for taxes. However, how this increase is being proposed is disingenuous and it demonstrates a cynicism about Salt Lake County voters. Not only has Corroon avoided facing voters to respond to his tax increase and is unwilling to take the case to them to persuade them to support it, but his successor is also unwilling to take a position on the tax increase. As a result, the increase is proposed by a lame duck Mayor, and his successor can shift responsibility on his predecessor when he runs for reelection in 2016.

That’s not leadership. That’s cynicism, and for a Mayor who came to office in 2004 promising greater transparency, it’s a failure.

“Mayor Corroon has repeatedly asserted that he stands for transparency and honesty with the taxpaying public,” said M. Royce Van Tassell, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association. “Given the way he played ‘hide the ball’ with this tax hike during the debate over Proposition 1, it’s awfully hard to take those assertions at face value.”