Commentary: Utah tax overhaul plan would hurt education

Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Students at Lone Peak High School in Highland swamp the front desk at the counseling center Friday January 10 to see their school counselor or make an appointment. Utah doesn't have as many school counselors as it needs. Legislation to increase funding for school districts so they can hire more counselors is expected this session. The Utah Legislature has proposed a dramatic tax overhaul in the form of House Bill 441). How does HB441 help Utah? We don’t know every way it will help but we do know one way in which it won’t — education funding.

Utah has a budget revenue surplus of about $1.3 billion this year. HB441 proposes lowering income taxes and taxing…