Tax cut for light bulbs? Great Idea!

Tax cut for light bulbs?

Two conservative Utah House members want to give every Utah family $30 in a tax cut to purchase long-lasting light bulbs.

Reps. Carl Wimmer, R-Heriman, and Greg Hughes, R-Draper, say the $21 million cost of their energy-saving program will cut more than $200 million in electrical costs, which in turn will mean more money for state tax coffers.

This is "an innovative way to cut taxes and energy usage and improve air quality," the pair said in a press release Friday.

They've nick-named their program "A Bright Idea for Utah." The pair will introduce the $30 tax cut in the 2008 Legislature, which convenes in January.

You couldn't spend the $30 on just anything. The $30 would be a voucher, and you could only use the voucher to buy energy-saving fluorescent gas bulbs, which use less electricity and last longer than the old light bulbs which burn a small fiber to make light.

The new bulbs, the men say, use 75 percent less energy and one of them can last the life of 10 old bulbs.

While the new program may seem costly to some — $21 million — the state is actually running tax surpluses of hundreds of millions of dollars this year. And lawmakers gave a $200 million tax cut in the 2007 Legislature.

In short, the state can afford this new, one-time energy-saving program, the two legislators said. The average family would save $285 a year — $255 in energy savings and $30 in the tax cut. The electrical savings equals 65 million gallons of gasoline, the pair claim, or getting 433,000 cars off of Utah roads for a year in reduced green-house gasses.

Other western states may join in this effort, they said. And if all 50 state legislatures did the same thing, it would save $40 billion in energy, equal to taking every car, bus and truck off of America's roads for 26 days, the legislators said.