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Committee backs substitute to overhaul Utah’s 1% restaurant surcharge amid split testimony
Summary
A legislative committee adopted and recommended a second substitute for HB231 to repeal or convert the 1% prepared‑food surcharge after competing testimony: sponsors argued repeal would simplify taxes and boost local spending; counties and tourism/arts groups warned it would shift costs to residents and cut dedicated local projects.
Representative Thurston urged lawmakers to repeal the 1% surcharge on prepared (ready‑to‑eat) food commonly called the restaurant tax, arguing the levy now reaches grocery delis and quick‑order services and imposes substantial compliance burdens on small retailers. "It's time we stop taxing the local family's lunch to pay for industry brochures," Thurston said, and told the committee full repeal would amount to about a $95,000,000 tax cut for Utahns.
Thurston said a second substitute — which the committee later adopted and recommended — would preserve or increase county revenue by moving the base into the general sales tax at a much smaller incremental rate (about 0.1 percentage point), reducing…
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