RAP-tax authority could expand

Wasatch Front cities outside of Salt Lake County may have an opportunity to fund new playgrounds, swimming pools and art galleries with sales tax revenues.

A change to the tax laws, proposed in HB64, would allow cities in Utah, Weber and Davis counties to assess a citywide recreation, arts and parks tax, or RAP tax. The tax would add 1/16th of a cent to the sales tax rate in any city that approves it, with the revenues earmarked for new facilities and maintenance on existing facilities. The bill was approved by the House Revenue and Taxation Committee Monday.

Currently, the three counties can only have a RAP if approved during a general countywide election, similar to the process that Salt Lake County must go through for its zoo, arts and parks tax. But cities in smaller counties can have a RAP tax, which Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn said was not fair to the cities wanting to assess the tax.

In Utah County, where the tax failed to pass in 2002, the County Commission put it on the ballot but did not support it because it felt that recreation and culture were city responsibilities, Washburn said. He was confident that if given the chance, some of the cities would gladly pass the extra tax.

"There is a real fairness issue here," Washburn said. "The citizens who want to be heard may not get the chance."

While city leaders are excited about the tax, retailers said that it would add to their already burdensome accounting task at a time when the state, through the streamlined sales tax, is actually trying to make their jobs easier. That tax, which was passed last year but had a two-year moratorium, is intended to capture Internet sales tax revenue and simplify tax reports.

"The reason that was put together was to streamline the sales tax reports," said Jim Olsen, president of the Utah Retail Merchants Association. "This will only complicate it."

Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, the bill's sponsor, said that all residents should have a chance to enjoy the benefits of a RAP tax. The fact that it is already available to cities in 25 other counties means that adding three more counties will hardly complicate things for retailers.

"There may be a time when all of these taxes have to be addressed because of the streamlined sales tax," she said. "But in the interim, it certainly seems fair to me that cities in these counties should have the chance to have this tax if the county will not have it."

E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com

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