SB 146: Taxpayer Subsidy for a Tech Summit

This bill passed the Senate 18-9 and the House 57-15.

Silicon Slopes has become a recognizable voice in Utah’s high tech industry to elevate the state’s profile and attract attention, capital, and talent. Their annual Tech Summit continues to grow, this year nearly tripling attendees over last year’s figures.

Senator Jake Anderegg is sponsoring Senate Bill 146 to give this nonprofit $1 million in taxpayer dollars for “out-of-state advertising, marketing, and branding” for its conference.

Taxes should be utilized only for essential government services—not for helping a nonprofit trade association promote its events, even if attracting out of state capital and employees would boost Utah’s economy or increase its tax base. Government should not be in the business of using taxes for marketing in the hopes of producing more tax revenue.

While we support and applaud efforts of Silicon Slopes to build and boost Utah’s tech sector, we cannot support a taxpayer subsidy to do so.