SALT LAKE CITY—There are a lot of moving parts during the legislative session. Topics like tax cuts and taxes on Social Security are always hot button issues. The governor has said he wants to remove the Social Security tax and the legislature has been pretty supportive of that but the question is how to do it?

“I think we stand pretty much aligned,” said Senate President, J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton. “We’ve taken the credits rule up to $75,000. If you make under $75,000 you don’t pay Social Security tax. The governor said he wants to eliminate the entire income tax and so have I. So we’re kind of aligned that way, when we do it and how we do it, I think is going to be the debate.”

Adams said he thinks the governor probably supports a tax cut. “If you ask him about it right now, he’s preferring Social Security (tax) be cut. We’re having that debate inside and I think you’re going to look at probably an income tax (cut) or Social Security (tax cut) or both or one or the other.”

It’s been talked about when they take Social Security up to $75,000, $80,000, $90,000, $100,00 then cut income tax or do what the governor is asking and cut 100% of Social Security tax, said Adams. “I think you’ll probably have a combination or you could just eliminate income tax.”

“Based on what President said, we’ve already raised the threshold up to $75,000 which affects 85% of all Social Security recipients in Utah,” said Kirk Cullimore, R-Draper. “So really we’re just talking about the top 15% which are the highest wage earners receiving Social Security. So if you’re asking why not all of it is because that’s a pretty high price tag for just that last 15% where for the same price tag, we could do something that affects all families, you know, by lowering the income tax for everybody.”

That might be the argument against it, he said. “I’m not sure which direction we’ll go. I was at Christmas dinner with my grandma and she was saying, ‘when are you gonna take the Social Security tax off?’ I said, ‘I promise you’re not paying taxes on it already.’ But that message is out there, right? AARP gives us a black eye until no more Social Security is taxed at all.”

There’s probably value in that, said Cullimore. “At some point, whether it’s this year, eventually we will get rid of the Social Security (tax.) So maybe we’ll just keep raising it or maybe we’ll get rid of this.”

“You know I hear all the time that we need to take care of the lower income population,” said Adams. “I’ve heard that since I’ve been here from many different people that cuts to Social Security only affects those making over $75,000.”

That is not the lowest income, he said. “So I think they have to make that determination. And it’s a big number. It’s a big amount for those high income earners. But I have mentioned before that I know young families with four or five kids that are trying to keep their kids in school, pay for their shoes, pay for their clothes, pay for whatever activities they’ve got, to get them into soccer or whatever else. And even though it’s a small cut for them, when you add them together again, again, again and again, it’s the largest cut in the history of the state of Utah.”

Take $100, $100, $100, $100, $100 and it finally adds up to $500, he said. “That makes a big difference in somebody’s budget. I think we’re trying to do it incrementally and that’ll be the debate here. So we’ve got to decide whether we give a big tax cut to the high income earners and not tax their Social Security for those that make over $75,000 or whether we spread it among everyone. Or whether we do it through sales tax or take it off of food. We’ll have all those debates as we move on. We’ve got the opportunity to cut and I think that’s really positive.”