Cox’s $30.6B budget targets Social Security tax, nuclear power, school safety
Dec 5, 2024, 4:31 PM | Updated: 5:55 pm
Gov. Gov. Spencer J. Cox speaks while Sophia M. DiCaro, executive director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, and Gary Harter, executive director, Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, listen as the governor delivers his proposed $30.6 billion budget for the next fiscal year at the William E. Christoffersen Salt Lake Veterans Home in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
(Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
We spoke with the AARP 👇 about Gov. Cox’s plan to eliminate the state tax on Social Security.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox unveiled his proposed $30.6 billion budget for the next fiscal year Thursday. It proposes eliminating the state tax on Social Security benefits, investing in nuclear power and implementing school safety legislation passed earlier this year.
Cox described the budget as a “return to normalcy.” He said it represents a “modest” but “healthier type of growth” for the state coming off of several years of federal COVID-19 stimulus. After approving $1.2 billion in tax cuts through his first term — primarily through reductions of the income tax rate — the Republican proposed eliminating the state’s tax on Social Security benefits, something he said will impact about 150,000 retired Utahns who are living on fixed incomes.
“We have an aging demographic out there, and that silver tsunami — as boomers are starting to retire — is something that we’re concerned about,” Cox told the KSL and Deseret News editorial boards Wednesday. “We’re behind the national curve on that because we’re a younger state, but we’re certainly heading in that direction. … They struggled as much through inflation — maybe more through inflation than anybody else — those who are on a fixed income.”
Utah is one of only nine states that taxes Social Security benefits, and Cox said his budget would save about $950 per year for the average filer — a total of $143.8 million across the state. Lawmakers had set aside some $200 million to cover a proposal to eliminate the state sales tax on food, but that effort was tabled after an accompanying constitutional amendment was struck from this year’s ballot.
Please read the entire story and more from Bridger Beal-Cvetko at KSL.com.
