Green Friends

The Silicon Business Journal has reported that Ebay will add 450 more jobs to its global operations on Utah. Good for Utah? It’s certainly good for Ebay.
Get this: Ebay will receive $30 million from Utah in tax incentives to add these 450 jobs. Make sense? Do the math:
450 jobs =If each new hire pays $10,000 a year in state income tax (a hypothetically optimistic scenario), that would generate $4.5 million. That’s quite a bit less than the tax incentives Ebay will reap from its expansion.
And more people will be laid off soon from how many state budget cuts? And this will help the economy how?

While budgets are being slashed, Utah legislators have and will reap the benefits of new technology: brand new laptops and cell phones.
The justification for this? According to an article in the Deseret News:

….legislative leaders point out that the new computers were authorized several years ago when the state was swimming in money.

Well there ya go. Now that makes sense.
Even though monies in excess of over $1 million are being cut from state budgets, monies that were already approved in prior budgets, legislator’s won’t feel the impact of that with their new toys. Here are the costs:

The new cell phone and service contract — which will cost around $145,000 a year — is already built into the Legislature’s ongoing budget. So the new phones aren’t costing the state additional tax dollars. And the Legislature is taking, on average, the same budget cuts as the rest of state government….Michael Christensen, head of the Legislative Office of Research and General Counsel, said the state will pay $12,031 a month for the phones and service.

Wow. Utah’s priorities really need more scrutiny. This expenditure is not responsible given what citizens are facing in terms of the impact of the looming budget cuts.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

(cross-posted on Utah Legislature Watch)

A poll conducted by the Deseret News/KSL-TV on raising taxes on food has yielded these results (published in the Deseret News):

….65 percent of Utahns say they definitely or probably oppose increasing the food tax. The survey of 408 Utahns, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, found 33 percent definitely or probably approve of raising the tax.

Two polls published on Utah Legislature Watch support these results as well (here and here).
Despite what some legislators say will be a “break” with a credit at income tax time for low income earners, this will hit those in need more on a daily basis since this population spends a higher percentage of their wages on basic necessities.

Utah legislators, listen to the people: Do not support a reinstatement of the former rate of sales tax on food!