LDS Church and tax decuctions :: The Daily Herald, Provo Utah

LDS Church and tax decuctions :: The Daily Herald, Provo Utah: "LDS Church and tax deductions

The Daily Herald
The state's plans for reforming income tax is hitting some opposition. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wants the state to keep the Utah Income Tax deduction for charitable contributions -- not because donations to the church would be affected, it says, but because it believes it would suppress charitable giving in general.
The Legislature's Tax Reform Task Force is considering the idea of creating a flat income tax in Utah with a single standard deduction. The plan, first proposed by former Gov. Olene S. Walker, would eliminate deductions for children and for charitable contributions.
Deductions are a touchy matter if one assumes the whole system continues to be structured the way it is today, and that change is therefore bad. That's a faulty assumption. Yet when Utah's predominant church weighs in, some legislators may be discrouraged from pursuing an overall tax scheme that makes more sense than the status quo. "