Mini-Editorial: Raise Taxes or Cut Services? Let Voters Decide

Here's the biggest political question in the upcoming 2010 legislative session: If legislators substantially raise taxes to help resolve an $850 million budget shortfall, will voters punish them in the election later in the year?

The conventional wisdom is that voters will hammer anyone who raises taxes. A Republican legislator who votes to raise taxes may even attract a challenger from the right.

The prophets of tax doom usually trot out former Gov. Norm Bangerter as the poster child illustrating the consequences of raising taxes. To avoid deep cuts in public education, Bangerter pushed a tax increase through the Legislature before his re-election campaign in 1988. Bangerter's approval rating plummeted, but he won a come-from-behind victory against Democrat Ted Wilson.

And that's something the proponents of a tax increase are quick to point out. They argue that Bangerter did the right thing -- and he won.

Here's another thing to remember about tax increases. Numerous polls and elections have shown that Utahns are willing to raise taxes if they are confident the revenue will go directly to something they support, and not into a black hole of government spending.

Many surveys, including some very recently, indicate citizens would support a tax increase for education, even in the current bad economy. Voters have repeatedly raised taxes on themselves for public transit and school buildings. Salt Lake City voters just raised taxes for a new public safety building.

Still, raising taxes is politically risky, especially with Gov. Gary Herbert taking the no-tax pledge and even hinting he might veto a tax increase.

So what is a responsible legislator to do if it becomes apparent that further cuts in public and higher education will do serious damage, resulting in teacher layoffs and higher class sizes?

One option would be to invite voters to choose for themselves whether taxes should be raised or services drastically cut. Legislators could put a tax proposal on the ballot and let voters decide.

Some legislators argue that punting the decision to voters would be cowardly. But this is a big enough issue that voters should get the right to decide for themselves.