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Aaron Tilton—Tirelessly Working
on the Issues Important to Our District
Property Taxes and School Funding
The Utah State tax burden is at an all-time high. Over the last year Representative Tilton was co-chair of one task force and member of another task force that studied and proposed legislation on lowering property taxes in school districts (like Nebo) that are property-tax poor. Representative Tilton was successful as the House sponsor in getting the first step passed in equalizing property taxes. The next step, which is one of his top priorities for the next legislative session, is to expand the equalization to save Nebo District taxpayers approximately $5.5 million annually in property taxes without lowering the funding level for schools. He also successfully changed the statewide formula to provide $3.2 million more in annual funding for capital outlay for building schools without a tax increase.
Upgrading Our Classrooms with Technology
Rep. Tilton was instrumental in promoting and helping to pass legislation that made is possible for all of our elementary schools to update or install computer labs with $50 million dollars. Half of that money almost did not reach our class rooms. The State Office of Education tried to implement a policy to take half of that money for administration costs. The Education Appropriations Subcommittee, of which Representative Tilton is a member, successfully applied pressure to make sure that all of that money made it to the classrooms.
Energy and Economic Development
A study by the Rand Corporation estimates that the sedimentary rock in the corner where Utah borders Colorado and Wyoming holds about 800 billion barrels of oil. That’s three times the size of Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves. Representative Tilton worked with Representative Barrus, chairman of the Natural Resource Committee, and Representative Dougall, chairman of the Revenue and Taxation Committee, to amend a bill to include a restricted account that will direct the severance tax to help with the development of critical infrastructure needed to extract our state oil reserves.
Representative Tilton traveled to Alberta Canada and met with representatives of the energy minister’s office. During that time Representative Tilton observed crude oil being produced from Utah oil shale that was shipped in and processed at a pilot plant. He also spent time learning about the tax structure that allows the province of Alberta to enjoy an 8–6 billion dollar surplus annually from a partnership with the oil industry. Representative Tilton believes if Utah develops a similar industry Utah could significantly reduce or eliminate all or part of its sales tax, income tax, and property tax.
Preserving Our Community Values
Representative Tilton has fought hard to keep declining moral values from being imposed on our children and community as a whole. He passed legislation that gave parents the power and information to keep their children safe from organizations who set up non-curricular clubs in school that recruit our children into “alternate life styles” like gay student clubs. After two hard years’ work and seven redrafts of bills, Representative Tilton succeeded in passing this legislation.
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