SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers setting this year’s state budget estimate they will have more than $500 million in surplus tax collections to work with.
Legislators released estimates Wednesday showing a $453 million surplus to spend on ongoing costs like salaries and $128 million for one-time projects like construction.
Senate budget chairman Jerry Stevenson says a lot of requests are being made for the money and all of the projects from lawmakers won’t be funded.
The extra money doesn’t include $25 to $80 million extra the state is expected to collect because of the major overhaul of the nation’s tax code passed by Congress in December.
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The Deseret News reports GOP legislative leaders are proposing to use some of that money to trim Utah’s individual and corporate tax rates to 4.95 percent, down from 5 percent.
That would cost about $55 million.
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Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com