In 2006, Voices for Utah Children joined 28 other states receiving funding to conduct state tax and budget analysis as part of the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative (SFAI) coordinated by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The scope of this work includes analysis of budget and tax issues, tracking state spending, helping policymakers, the media, and the public understand fiscal policy, and advocating for policies that help low and moderate-income families.

The Utah Fiscal Analysis Project helps shape state policy and program decisions by providing information that is
Non-partisan, objective and widely regarded as credible,
Timely with respect to the policy decisions under discussion, and
Widely accessible because it presents complex fiscal issues in ways that a variety of audiences can understand.

ISSUES AT A GLANCE SUMMARY:

Making Work Pay - analyzing problems faced by working poor families, and helping to inform the media, opinion leaders, and grass-roots advocacy organizations about policies and programs that help to make work pay.

Increasing Tax Fairness - analyzing the fairness of the state's taxes, raising awareness of policy options, encouraging the state to establish mechanisms that illuminate this problem, and bringing the issue of tax fairness to a broad constituency.

Expanding the Budget Debate - analyzing state budget trends, tracking state spending on a variety of programs and populations, and helping to inform the broader public about budget decisions.

Improving Tax Revenue Adequacy - analyzing the adequacy of state revenue systems, shedding light on tax-cut proposals, educating the public about the importance of a longer-term approach to tax issues and increasing the variety of voices engaged in state-level tax debates.