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Legislative action that proposed this amendment: HJR25 1979 Regular Session
Disposition: This amendment was not presented to voters for ratification.
Amends article 13 section 2
[This proposed amendment from the 1979 Regular Session never appeared before voters for ratification, since it was superceded by SJR6 in the 1980 Budget Session, which voters ultimately did not ratify.]
13:2
All tangible property in the state, not exempt under the laws of the United States, or under this Constitution, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as provided by law. The property of the state, counties, cities, towns, school districts, municipal corporations and public libraries, lots with the buildings thereon used exclusively for either religious worship or charitable purposes, and place of burial not held or used for private or corporate benefit, shall be exempt from taxation. Tangible personal property present in Utah on January 1, m., which is held for sale or processing and which is shipped to final destination outside this state within twelve months may be deemed by law to have acquired no situs in Utah for purposes of ad valorem property taxation and may be exempted by law from such taxation, whether manufactured, processed or produced or otherwise originating within or without the state. Tangible personal property present in Utah on January 1, m., held for sale in the ordinary course of business and which constitutes the inventory of any retailer, or wholesaler or manufacturer or farmer or livestock raiser may be deemed for purposes of ad valorem property taxation to be exempted. Water rights, ditches, canals, reservoirs, power plants, pumping plants, transmission lines, pipes and flumes owned and used by individuals or corporations, or the individual members thereof, shall not be separately taxed so long as they shall be owned and used exclusively for such purposes. Power plants, power transmission lines and other property used for generating and delivering electrical power, a portion of which is used for furnishing power for pumping water for irrigation purposes on lands in the state of Utah, may be exempted from taxation to the extent that such property is used for such purposes. These exemptions shall accrue to the benefit of the users of water so pumped under such regulations as the Legislature may prescribe. The taxes of the indigent poor may be remitted or abated at such times and in such manner as may be provided by law. The Legislature may by law exempt, from taxation tangible person property, and may by law exempt from taxation up to one-half the fair market value of or rebate up to one-half the taxes on owner-occupies homes and homesteads. Property owned by disabled persons who served in any war in the military service of the United States or of the state of Utah and by the unmarried widows and minor orphans of such disabled persons or of persons who while serving in the military service of the United States or the state of Utah were killed in action or died as a result of such service may be exempted as the Legislature may provide. The Legislature shall provide by law for an annual tax sufficient, with other sources of revenue to defray the estimated ordinary expenses of the state for each fiscal year. For the purpose of paying the state debt, if any there be, the Legislature shall provide for levying a tax annually, sufficient to pay the annual interest and to pay the principal of such debt within twenty years from the final passage of the law creating the debt.
