Utah

Utah's personal income tax is a six-bracket schedule ranging from 2.3% to 7% (the highest rate applicable to all taxable above $4,313). The corporate income tax rate is a flat 5%. The state's general sales and use tax rate is 4.75%, with local sales taxes adding on 1% to 3.5%. The state also levies a full array of excise taxes covering motor fuels, tobacco products, insurance premiums, public utilities, alcoholic beverages, pari-mutuels, and other selected items. The state's estate tax is related to the federal exemption for state death taxes, and is therefore scheduled to expire with the exemption in 2007, absent countervailing action by Utah. Utah's revenue losses from the phasing out of its estate tax are estimated at -$3 million for 2002/03, -$8 million for 2003/04 and -$16 million for 2006/07. Death and gift taxes accounted for 0.2% of state collections in 2002. Other state taxes include various state license fees and severance taxes. All property taxes are collected the local level. Property taxes are the main source of local revenue, with localities collecting about 35% of total state and local revenue in Utah. 53% of property taxes go to schools as does most of the state's budget. The government subsidizes water rates at the cost of about $20 million a year, and though Utah is the 2nd driest state, its water rates are among the lowest in the country.

The state collected $3.925 billion in taxes in 2002, of which 40.9% came from individual income taxes, 38.2% from the general sales tax, 13.3% from selective sales taxes, 3.76% from state license fees, 2.8% from corporate income taxes, and 0.7% from severance taxes. In 2003, Utah ranked 9th among the states in terms of combined state and local tax burden, which amounted to about 10.6% of income.

The following table from the US Census Bureau provides a summary of taxes collected by the state in 2002.