On January 26, the Utah House passed HB 50, which ends the listing of political parties on the state income tax form. The purpose of listing the parties on the state income tax form is to enable taxpayers to choose to send $2 to the political party of their choice. The vote to repeal that program was 51-20. Fifteen of the seventeen Democrats in the House opposed the bill, but only five Republicans opposed it. The five Republicans who opposed ending the program are Representatives Edwards, Last, Nielson, Pitcher, and Powell.
According to this story, the bill’s sponsor, Representative John Dougall (R-American Forks) is motivated not because there is anything intrinsically wrong with the program, but because he favors keeping the system by which parties nominate candidates in Utah. Utah is the only state in which no one can get on a primary ballot unless the candidate first receives a substantial vote at a party convention. That system is under constant attack. Dougall thinks that it is easier to defend the convention system if the income tax option is eliminated. He says then it will be easier to argue that political parties are entirely private entities. However, he is not proposing to end taxpayer funding for party primaries.
The Democratic Party reived $32,886 from the program last year; the Republican Party received $46,276; Libertarians received $3,282; the Constitution Party received $3,060. Utah is one of the few states with a substantial budget surplus.
