Last year, Gary earned $100. He spent $60 on public schools and college and $40 on "everything else."
This year, Gary took a $5 pay cut but needs to spend $45 on "everything else.” Can Gary still spend $60 on public schools and colleges?
If you answered “yes” to that little story problem, you’re either a state legislator or a product of Utah’s chronically underfunded schools.
The numbers don’t add up. Nonetheless, that’s exactly the tax reform recipe legislators came up with after months of work and public hearings.
They start from the proposition that more money is needed for critical social services — mental health treatment, affordable housing, disability services — as well as things like roads, highway patrol troopers and public employees.