Apr 06
2010 Utah Taxpayers Association Scorecard — Rep. Frank 100%
2010 at 5:35 pm | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 9 comments
Here’s another Annual Scorecard. This time it’s the Utah Taxpayers Association 2010 Scorecard. Since 1922, the Utah Taxpayers Association has been “your Tax Watchdog!”
This year, Rep. Craig Frank scores 100% !!!
As the former Vice-Chair of the House Standing Committee on Revenue and Taxation, Rep. Frank is extremely sensitive to the Utah taxpayer (especially since he is one). In fact, Rep. Frank was only one of two legislators during the 2010 General Session to propose a bill cutting taxes. (HB48, Substitute) Also, in 2008, the Utah Taxpayers Association awarded Rep. Frank with the “Taxpayer Advocate of the Year” award for his work on major privatization legislation. Rep. Frank believes it’s his responsiblity to “get government out of the business of business.”
9 Responses to “2010 Utah Taxpayers Association Scorecard — Rep. Frank 100%”
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April 6th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
With all due respect Rep. Frank, the Utah Taxpayer’s association and their lobbyist Howard Stephenson have been public education’s greatest adversary for many years running.
I view this award as a badge of shame. Apparently you are content that Utah is dead last in funding for education nearly $1000 lower per pupil than the next to last state Idaho because you refuse to even consider having taxpayers provide the resources necessary to educate the large number of children they put into the system.
Those who choose to have large families should pay more for their education, not less. Taxpayers who make over $250,000 per year should pay more than the 5% rate that those just above the poverty level have to pay. Since they are receiving the greatest economic benefits from the state they should give back a greater share to make sure our children get the best education.
Tax cuts and tax incentives for corporations should be discontinued so that they pay more of their fair share to insure a well educated workforce. It is this and the quality of life in this state that attracts businesses to locate here—not the tax breaks they get from the Utah Legislature.
There are two sides to everything Rep. Frank, you can either be a friend and supporter of the Utah Taxpayer’s Association which is really just a front for powerful business interests in the state or you can be a friend and supporter of Utah’s system of public education. You can’t do both.
April 6th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Spoken like a real liberal JBT…throw other peoples money at everything, that’ll fix it…NOT!
April 6th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
John, always a pleasure to have your opinion…and, that it is.
April 7th, 2010 at 1:20 am
Utah Tax payers association gives you a perfect score… So I suppose its nice to know that Qwest, Comcast, Kennecot, Rio Tinto, Utah Autodealers association, etc all approve of you. Shame that the other 2.6Million real tax payers in Utah are not represented by the “Utah Tax payers association”, But hey at least the financing for your next campaign in covered.
At least big business likes yea, Don’t worry tho I won’t hold that against yea(I don’t live in your district so really I can’t anyway *wink*).
April 7th, 2010 at 1:27 am
UTA has proven themselves again and again to be less a “taxpayer” advocate and more a “corporate” advocate.
I wouldn’t pat yourself on the back too hard for this endorsement.
April 7th, 2010 at 8:54 am
JBT, have you seen the performance of the school district that spends the most per pupil? DC public schools spend just under Belize’s entire GDP. The per student spending is just barely under the tuition at Harvard. Have you checked their graduation levels, their standardized test scores, their college attendance levels?
If Utah provides better roads than DC at a significantly lower cost, that’s a good thing, right? Why would education spending be any different?
April 7th, 2010 at 11:56 am
JJL9,
comparing us to DC is just silly, we don’t have the poor population level they do, the population density, the crime problems(these heavily increase school costs), cost of living is DC is higher as well so the numbers are somewhat skewed in the first place.
Utah has a much higher parent participation rate due to cultural reasons, lower rate of both parents working full time, etc.
And their is a point where we will see the quality of education here start to plummet as well, The cuts have been getting well out of hand. Class sizes are increasing in many districts, We are at the very bottom of per pupil spending in the country(this is nothing to brag about). They have robbed money from the student funds to pay for their nonsense lawsuits related to state rights to seize federal lands via emminate domain, this money should have came from the general fund if anything and a suite like this is just stupid the state attorney’s office has told them they won’t win.
April 8th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Hey Taxpayer. You realize it is only a theory that throwing more money at Utah’s schools won’t improve education, because it has never been tried.
JJL9, your stale empty argument doesn’t even merit a response.
Rep. Frank, please don’t sprain your arm by patting yourself on the back for being the main lap dog of the Taxpayer’s Association. There are many of us in Utah who don’t share the opinion of you and your small circle of Utah County ultra conservatives.
April 9th, 2010 at 10:46 am
I take that back JJL9. Just on the outside chance that you might learn something, here is the Utah Foundation report that compares “apples to apples” in education spending and student performance.
School Testing Results, 2006 & 2007: How Utah Compares to Other States
“The report finds that Utah is scoring well below what would be expected for a state with its demographic profile. In math, reading, and science tests for 8th graders, Utah ranked 30th (math), 29th (reading), and 18th (science). But if Utah were in the middle of its demographic peers, it would score in the top 10 nationally in science and in the top 15 states for math and reading. Utah’s closest overall peer states are South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska. These are generally high-scoring states, and Utah falls well below its demographic peers in each of the tests. Indeed, Utah is the lowest scoring state among these peer states.
Something is limiting Utah’s ability to perform at a level that would be expected for a state with its demographic profile. With per-pupil funding $3,000 lower than its peer-group average, financial limitations are a likely limiting factor”.
A link to the full report is here: http://www.utahfoundation.org/reports/?p=7