June 29, 2011

Utah’s tax burden is fairly high compared to other states. State and local government finances data show Utah’s tax burden, including mandatory fees, ranks 16th highest in the country and fourth highest among western states. Even so, a recent Utah Foundation report says Utah’s education funding effort has fallen significantly since 1995, placing it 26th in the nation for the amount of tax revenue public education received for every $1,000 in personal income in 2009. “It’s a big deal because we’re a people that has chosen to value family and to have a lot of kids, and when we survey Utah voters about the issues, they really care about education,” said Steve Kroes, president of the Utah Foundation. “It’s always in the top one or two issues on their minds, and funding is one of the aspects of education that they are most concerned about, and yet, through the political process, we’re not seeing that funding receive the priority that voters seem to want.” Over the years, the foundation has published a number of reports explaining what it has called “Utah’s education paradox” — the fact that while Utah has long had the lowest per-pupil spending in the country, it also spent a high proportion of personal income on schools. Kroes said people often still use that education paradox notion as an excuse for why the state doesn’t put more money into education, but “the excuse doesn’t hold water any more.” The report says Utah has the lowest per-pupil spending in the nation partly because of the state’s high proportion of children, but it also notes the decline in the education funding effort. In 2009, Utah’s education funding effort was nearly $48 per $1,000 in personal income, meaning about 4.8 percent of all income earned in the state went toward public education, the report says, citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That was down from $56.44 in 1992, when Utah ranked eighth in the nation for its education funding effort. The report attributes the decline in education funding effort to a number of things, including changes in how much of their incomes Utahns have spent, in general, on state and local government. It also attributes the decline to a shift in spending from education to other areas, including health and human services, transportation, and law and order. Kroes said it’s clear policymakers, over the past two decades, have placed a higher priority on other programs or on reducing taxes than on education funding. Another good example of how the corporate-controlled legislature is actually harming the people of the state. And as Hugh Nibley once said, education is the only thing Mormons are willing to pay for and not get. Now, they’re not even willing to pay for it. Nice values.