Utah estimates the state’s future tax revenues using a consensus approach. It is undertaken by the Utah’s Revenue Assumptions Working Group – a collection of economists and experts from the Governor’s and Legislature’s staff, the State Tax Commission, and state academic institutions and departments.1 This approach is not the way all states estimate revenue. In other states, such as New Jersey, the Governor’s staff creates one revenue estimate and the legislature’s staff creates a differing … Continued

The Utah Constitution requires that the state balance its budget.1 That is as simple as aligning revenues with the annual budget expenses. Both the Governor and Utah State Legislature produce budgets. The Governor releases budget recommendations in November for the Legislature to consider. The Legislature produces the state’s final budget in late February or early March. But how do they know what Utah’s revenues will look like over the next year in order to ensure … Continued

Welcome to the first Revenue Report from the Utah Foundation. As state taxes and government spending have always been among Utah’s top ten concerns in Utah Foundation’s “Utah Priorities Project,” we thought it would be helpful to provide a monthly discussion on Utah’s state revenues.  In this month’s discussion we highlight the income and sales tax surprise – how  revenue collections are well above expectations. The Utah State Tax Commission periodically releases a revenue snapshot … Continued