This week Congress is debating a tax reform bill that will eliminate important forms of financing for low income housing, the Utah Legislature is talking about tax reform, and the Salt Lake City Council is talking about Mayor Biskupski's low income housing plan.
| Low Income Housing Cuts Proposed in Federal Tax Reform Last week the United States House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee passed a major tax reform bill. Among other things, this bill eliminates one of the biggest sources of financing for low income housing used in Utah and other states. The biggest is the elimination of tax exempt status of private activity bonds. The issuance of tax exempt private activity bonds is required for a project to be eligible for what are called "4 percent low income tax credits". In 2017, $3.2 million of these credits were used to produce low income housing in Utah. Read more: House Committee Approves Seriously Flawed Tax Reform Bill Senate Tax Proposal Protects Critical Affordable Housing Resources but Fails in Other Critical Areas Urge Congress to Use Tax Reform to End Housing Poverty Tax Committee Not Discussing the elimination of Utah's Food Tax on Wednesday The Utah Legislature's Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee has been studying tax reform ideas the past few months when they meet. Many of these meetings have included serious discussions about eliminating the sales tax on food in Utah. The sales tax on food is an unpopular and unfair tax that only 13 states charge. The committee is only meeting two more times before the formal legislative session begins on January 22, 2018, Unfortunately, the committee is not discussing the elimination of the sales tax of food at its meeting this week on Wednesday, November 15. If you would like the committee to discuss the sales tax on food in its final meeting for this year please send emails to the committee chairs saying so. The committee chairs are: Representatives Steve Eliason: [email protected] Senator Howard Stephenson: [email protected] Draft E-Mail: Dear Representative Eliason: We are disappointed that Representive Quinn and Senartor Dabakis’s proposals to eliminate the sales tax on food are not part of the agenda for the Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee Agenda meeting this week. Please consider adding them to the agenda for the final committee meeting before the session, on Novermber 28, 2017. Sales tax on food is an unpopular and unfair tax that only 13 states charge. It would be wonderful for Utah to reduce that number to 12. Sincerely, Your name | Salt Lake City Council Discussing Low Income Housing Plans on Tuesday On Tuesday, November 14, 2017, at 2:00 PM the Salt Lake City Council will meet in their role as the Board for the City Redevelopment Agency and discuss Mayor Biskupski's proposal for spending RDA funds to generate as much new low income housing as possible before the downtown homeless shelter's scheduled closure date on July 1, 2019. There will be a chance for public comment at the beginning of the meeting. You can also comment via email at [email protected] Read Mayor Biskupski's plan here  |
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