Utah's State Crustacean, the Brine Shrimp

Well, it had to happen eventually. After all, what State could operate without the proper actions taken?

Our 2023 legislature has done the right thing at last. A massive problem has been identified, discussed and now corrected, hopefully in time to ward off approaching danger.  

Utah finally has its very own state crustacean. I mean, how did we make it through all this time since statehood without the Brine Shrimp as our state crustacean, really? How many really important things has Utah missed out on by not having a state crustacean in the last 127 years?  It is comforting to know our elected legislators have come to our rescue and taken care of this very important piece of business. You know we can trust them with anything now, because they have taken the time and energy to alleviate this deficiency in our standings among the other 49 states.

So, our gallant legislators are off to solve another of Utah's problems, with the same can-do attitude and attention to detail deployed on the State Crustacean issue. I'm so glad they are looking out for our best interests. These guys (and gals, ok) can do no wrong! I have visions of state representative Judy Weeks Rohner (R-West Valley City) and state senator John D Johnson (R-Ogden) suited up in armor, riding their war horses into the heat of the west desert looking to slay any problem foolhardy enough to enter Utah's dominion. 

When you go knighting around, as our legislature does, looking for injustices and issues needing solving, why the problems just leap up at you like a rattlesnake! 

The very first problem our legislators stumbled upon that needed a solution is the sales tax on food. (Ok, we really had to get the high school transgender thing taken care of first, but stay with the story here, please). After all, Senator Johnson has a PhD in Economics; he used his great expensive education, training and skills to conclude that the sales tax on food was a regressive tax that really hurt lower income people. So he and Representative Rohner put forth a bill to eliminate the state sales tax on food! Now, this would be a pretty popular move on the Utah Legislators part, as everybody buys food at one point or another. This issue could stand on its on merits and everybody that buys food would applaud the courageous actions by our legislators. It's a win-win-win! 

Never ones to let a good deal go unpunished, the Utah Legislators looked around for another problem to slay and lo and behold, right in front of them, right in our state constitution in fact, there it was: the Holy Grail for the Utah Legislature. The very brave and talented state senator, Daniel McCay (R-Salt Lake County) proposed a Senate Joint Resolution that would allow the legislators to breath a great sigh of relief.  

You see, by the Constitution of the great State of Utah, all of the monies collected as income tax revenue have to be spent on K-12 and higher education, and children and individuals with a disability. Our legislators have been bothered by this little detail for many, many years; and although many efforts to change this part of the state  constitution have been put forward, none have succeeded yet.    

Now they had found just to weapon to make those holdout voters agree with the enlightened legislators and take that pesky rule off the books. If they tied the elimination of the sales tax on food to a constitutional amendment that would remove the lock on income taxes going to schools, think of the great things they could accomplish with all that money! And who wouldn't want to eliminate the sales tax on food? Why, can you even imagine how that sounds-"I want to pay sales tax on food so our students can continue to be educated with state tax funds." That's not a campaign slogan I want to paint on my horse and buggy. 

So, this win will be a biggie for the legislature. By tying the elimination of the food sales tax to doing away with that pesky line in the state constitution that controls the use of state income taxes, they will have managed to further reduce the money they send to public schools, and make themselves look like nice people for doing away with the food sales tax. Now they will have more money to use as offsets for tax cuts to rich donors, and pet projects like a gondola. 

If we the voters vote against the constitutional amendment, we will continue to have a regressive tax on food that targets the lower income population. If we vote yes on the amendment, we will have given the legislature permission to starve public education. Either way, it will feel like we are on the wrong end of a jousting lance.

We, the taxpayers, get the shaft no matter what. Why do we keep insisting on electing Republicans? 

Thanks for reading; as always, your comments are welcome and appreciated. Just click on the word "comments" in the white box below. 

R. M. "Bob" Hartman