State of Utah Archives: on Budget & Economy
Austin Searle:
Supports Universal Basic Income: $1200 a month
I propose that every adult get $1,200 while those under 18 get $500; this will improve and trickle up the economy--up for our families, communities, and our people. Those who have children will get more if added together, which will end poverty
and give people hope, allowing them to achieve their dreams, accomplish their goals, and put food on the table during this time of need. Homeless people will no longer have to try to find money to sleep somewhere.
Source: 2021-2022 Utah Senate race website AustinForSenate.com
Jun 27, 2021
Gary Herbert:
Efforts to develop rural Utah are paying off
Many Utahns don't want to just vacation in rural Utah, they want to live there, and to work there, and to raise their families there. The Utah Rural Online Initiative is empowering rural residents with new career options. Our successful efforts
to develop broadband throughout the state are setting the foundation for opportunities we can't yet even imagine. And thanks to technology and our telecommuting initiative, we've moved many state jobs to communities off of the Wasatch Front.
Source: 2020 Utah State of the State address
Jan 30, 2020
Jeff Burningham:
Eliminate onerous occupational licensing laws
Government doesn't create jobs. People do. The government should not pick winners and losers. It's time to eliminate unnecessary and onerous occupational licensing laws.
We should keep taxes low and easy to administer. Economic strength will make Utah less reliant on the federal government.
Source: 2020 Utah gubernatorial campaign website JeffBurningham.com
Jan 6, 2020
Jeff Burningham:
Infrastructure planning critical to quality of life
I don't have to rely on complicated policy papers or expensive consultants to explain the economic impacts of inadequate infrastructure or to suggest practical solutions. I have first-hand experience dealing with the economic impact of these issues.
I've been building businesses in Utah for 20 years. Infrastructure planning is critical to maintaining our quality of life. We need to look ahead and plan 10, 20, 30, and 50 years into the future.
Source: 2020 Utah gubernatorial campaign website JeffBurningham.com
Jan 6, 2020
Spencer Cox:
Let some hotel tax revenue pay for infrastructure
Cox said he would back local governments' interest in adding more flexibility in how Transient Room Tax revenue can be spent. "I would support using a portion of TRT for infrastructure," he said. He said infrastructure--ranging from
roads to water and sewer--has to be able to accommodate the ever-growing volume of visitors to southeastern Utah.
Source: Moab Times on 2020 Utah gubernatorial race
Jun 27, 2019
Spencer Cox:
Time to reevaluate our approach to tax incentives
I believe in the power of free markets. Free market capitalism has done more to eradicate real poverty than any other socioeconomic system in the history of the world. Conversely, tax incentives inherently change the playing field in
free markets and can lead to governments--not markets--picking winners and losers. To stay competitive, Utah has also offered incentives. It's time to reevaluate our current approach.
Source: Medium.com blog posting for 2020 Utah gubernatorial race
Jun 26, 2019
Craig Bowden:
No stimulus; market forces tell us where money should go
Q: Do you agree or disagree with the statement, "Stimulus better than market-led recovery"?
A: Disagree. Market forces tell us where money should go.
Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Utah Senate candidate
Feb 28, 2018
John Curtis:
Balance the budget; run government like business
We simply MUST cut federal spending and balance our budget. We've been saying it is "unsustainable" for many years and we all know that to be true. The task seems insurmountable and whenever cuts are proposed someone is mad
about it and threatens to vote supporters out of office. We can't even make the simple--not easy, but simple--decision to cut the rate of growth of the spending! It's time to at least take a first step even if it is a small one.
Source: 2017 Utah House campaign website JohnCurtis.org
Aug 17, 2017
Jonathan Johnson:
Kept $11M in gold coins in case of financial crisis
Under Jonathan Johnson's leadership at Overstock.com, the company has socked away $10.9 million in gold and silver and has a three-month food supply for each employee, bracing for a financial crisis that the Republican gubernatorial candidate said is
certain to come.Johnson told the United Precious Metals Association--a group that was behind legislation to make gold legal tender in the state--that the company keeps small button-sized gold and silver coins outside the banking system. "We expect
when there is a financial crisis, there will be a banking holiday," Johnson told the group. "I don't know if it will be two days or two weeks or two months. But we have $10 million in gold and silver in denominations small enough that we can use it for
payroll. We want to be able to keep our employees paid and safe and our site up and running."
On Overstock's last quarterly report, the company listed $10.9 million in "precious metals" among its assets--$6.3 million in gold and $4.6 million in silver.
Source: Salt Lake Tribune on 2016 Utah gubernatorial race
Nov 2, 2015
Mia Love:
Cut federal programs by more than $750 billion
Wherever she goes, Republican candidate Mia Love says her top priority as a member of Congress would be balancing the federal budget. Everything else is "remodeling the kitchen when the house is on fire." To do that, she has offered a detailed blueprint
of deep cuts to federal programs totaling more than $750 billion.It would mean whacking more than $2 billion of federal spending in Utah, slashing food assistance for the poor, eliminating school lunch subsidies and wiping out special-education aid.
She would end subsidized college loans like those she used herself when she earned her degree, and eliminate funds like those that were spent in the city she oversees as mayor, aimed at preventing homelessness.
"It was a good way to get people to
start talking about it," Love said in a recent interview. "You almost look at this [deficit] and ask yourself, 'How do you start?' We were just looking at it holistically."
Source: Robert Gehrke in Salt Lake Tribune (Utah), "Million/billion"
Sep 6, 2012
Orrin Hatch:
Re-elect me and I'll chair the Senate Finance Committee
Liljenquist went after Hatch's longevity in the Senate, which Hatch hailed as invaluable for Utah because of the experience and seniority he has gained. "Sen. Hatch and his generation of politicians have presided over the biggest run-up in debt in the
history of mankind. They have voted repeatedly to increase the debt ceiling. They have voted to expand entitlements we couldn't afford," Liljenquist said.Hatch called himself the likely chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee where
60% of all federal spending is considered. He said with Romney as president and "if I take over as chairman, we're going to get these matters under control one way or the other.
"It's time for new leaders in the
Senate, Liljenquist said. "I am running, senator, because you could become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, not in spite of it," he said.
Source: KSL Radio coverage of 2012 Utah Senate debates
Jun 16, 2012
Orrin Hatch:
Accused of "fiscal child abuse" by leaving debt for future
Liljenquist said Hatch has spent a future generation's worth of wealth, foisting the tax burden on a "whole bunch of Americans" who didn't have the chance to vote for him. "That is fiscal child abuse and that's what has happened in Congress under your
watch," he said.The comment clearly rankled Hatch. "Let me get this straight. Apparently, I'm responsible for everything that's wrong in government. That's total b.s. and everybody knows it," the six-term senator said.
For his one question,
Liljenquist asked Hatch if he felt responsible in any way for the national debt.
"Frankly, no," Hatch replied. "I led the fight against the debt from day one. And I'm offended that you keep bringing it up like I'm responsible for all the things that
are wrong in America. How about the things that are right--am I responsible for those, too?" Hatch complained that it has been difficult to fight federal spending because in the Senate "we've been in the minority the whole time I've been there."
Source: KSL Radio coverage of 2012 Utah Senate debates
Jun 16, 2012
Dan Liljenquist:
Vocal supporter of cut, cap and balance
CUT, CAP AND BALANCE: Dan is a vocal supporter of cut, cap and balance. We must cut spending, cap the growth and balance the budget. To achieve that balance, we MUST tackle entitlements in real and substantive ways.BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT:
Dan is also in favor of and will advocate for a balanced budget amendment but simply balancing the budget while "raising revenues" (which means tax increases) is not enough. We must also cut the spending and curb the rate of that spending.
Source: 2012 Senate campaign website, danforutah.com
May 24, 2012
Dan Liljenquist:
TARP (bank bailout) was wasteful spending
Liljenquist reminded those in attendance that Hatch voted for TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and many other areas of wasteful spending.Liljenquist said that he is trying to help the citizens of Utah to know the differences between himself
and Senator Hatch and that he challenged Senator Hatch to eight televised debates. Hatch informed Liljenquist that he didn't have time for that.
Source: StGeorgeUtah.com on 2012 Utah Senate debate
May 20, 2012
Orrin Hatch:
My 36 years in Senate could make me Finance Committee chair
The three GOP US Senate candidates agreed on almost every question: federal spending is out of control, power needs to be ceded back to the states, amnesty is not the solution to illegal immigration and the US should not rely on Russia to get astronauts
into space.Their key disagreement, however, had more to do with chronology than ideology. Challengers Chris Herrod and Dan Liljenquist argued that incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch's 36 years in Washington had made him partly responsible for the nation's
problems, while Hatch emphatically countered that his time in the Senate made him uniquely positioned as an agent for change.
Hatch frequently referred to his position in the Senate Finance Committee--he would chair the committee if Republicans
gained a majority of the Senate in November--and presented himself as part of a 2-man reform team with Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. "The finance committee is where it's all at," Hatch said. "Mitt knows it, I know it and he wants me there.
Source: Deseret News on 2012 Utah Senate debate
May 4, 2012
Orrin Hatch:
My balanced budget bill failed by only one vote
Candidate Liljenquist asked Hatch what he had been doing in the Senate Finance Committee in terms of curbing the deficit."What's going to be different next time?" Liljenquist asked.Hatch answered that for most of his time in the Senate, the finance
committee had been chaired by Democrat senators. He also pointed to his record of co-authoring the balanced budget amendment, a cause that he has brought to the Senate floor 13 times and twice, he said, came within one vote of passage. "Had we passed
that amendment we wouldn't be in the awful state we are today," Hatch said. "Some of us really do work hard to get this country out of the doldrums."
Liljenquist, however, described Hatch's work with the balanced budget amendment as hypocritical.
He said Hatch had voted for a number of bills that added to the national debt, specifically dealing with Medicaid. "You can't hold up the balanced budget in one hand and then hold up legislation that makes it impossible in the other," Liljenquist said.
Source: Deseret News on 2012 Utah Senate debate
May 4, 2012
Orrin Hatch:
OpEd: Federal debt increased rapidly on his watch
Hatch emphasized the importance of his congressional seniority, especially the power he has over the federal budget as the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. He made it clear that losing his influence in Washington will significantly hamper
efforts to balance the budget and open the state's public lands to oil and natural gas exploration. "I'll be effective on Day One. I know what to do because experience really does count," Hatch said. "I'm a tough old bird. If you give me one more term,
I will make a difference."The two challengers, however, said Hatch has served in Washington during a time when the federal debt increased rapidly and the powers of the executive branch expanded significantly. "It's
one thing to say that you think Congress should have a say, but when you're in Congress, you have to demand that Congress have a say," his opponent Liljenquist said.
Source: Deseret News coverage of 2012 Utah Senate Debate
Apr 17, 2012
Mike Leavitt:
Highest priority is “economic transition”
Two words express what I believe to be our state’s most important priority: “economic transition.” So, what is Utah’s economic game plan?- We have a young, education- minded, tech-savvy workforce that will grow at twice the national average.
-
We will keep Utah a safe, livable place where New Economy business can operate profitably.
- When it comes to the competition, we’ll just out work ‘em.
We live in a time of rapid economic and cultural change. It is driven by information technology,
which affects every part of our lives. Our home towns have become part of a single global market. The power of nations has shifted from bombs to bandwidth. More and more we do our errands online, not in line. From where we sit we can literally reach
across the globe and connect with loved ones in far-off lands...in an instant. What used to take weeks now takes seconds. Every change both eliminates jobs and creates others. Change is unsettling, often painful, but it is the fuel of renewal.
Source: 2001 State of the State address to the Utah legislature
Jan 16, 2001
Page last updated: Oct 14, 2021