The Utah Taxpayers Association is pleased to announce the 1st edition of a new annual report, titled “The Pork Barrel”. The report is an annual analysis of the Utah State Budget to provide transparency and accountability.
For the first edition of the report, the Association looks back at the last 6 years for overall general fund and education fund ongoing spending and a comprehensive list of all “one-time” spending for the last 2 fiscal years. The report also highlights three areas of the budget – Cultural and Community Engagement, Transportation and Higher Education Buildings. Future editions of the report will highlight other various areas of the budget in addition to overall spending and will go into more detail than this initial report.
Some highlights from the report include:
- Between FY2018 and FY2023 General and Education Fund spending increased by 74.1% or $4,947,297,200, from $6,676,808,900 to $11,624,106,100.
- One-Time spending during the 2021 and 2022 General Sessions totaled $6,521,429,600
- From FY2018 to FY2023 total spending on Higher Education Buildings totaled approximately $1.029 billion.
- From FY2018 to FY2023 the Cultural and Community Engagement budget grew 181.5% from $19.2 million to $54.2 million.
“We are excited to publish the first annual addition of our Pork Barrel report”, said Rusty Cannon, President of the Utah Taxpayers Association. “The report summarizes data collected from the State budget to provide taxpayers with a comprehensive look at recent trends in state government spending. Each year it will also look into various specific areas of the budget. Ever since the first edition of our newsletter was published 100 years ago in January 1923, the Utah Taxpayers Association, knowing that taxes are a direct function of government spending, has been examining the expenditure of taxpayer money. This new annual report will help educate and inform taxpayers as to how that is unfolding, allowing them to consider and debate the various drivers of spending in Utah. ”
The report can be found at: https://utahtaxpayers.org/the-2022-pork-barrel/
