Castle Country Radio had the opportunity to sit down with Tom Hansen, a candidate for Utah House District 67. Hansen spoke on his platform, his recent victory at the state Republican convention, centrally assessed property taxes and why he feels prepared to serve in the State Legislature.

Starting off, Hansen explained four of the key issues his campaign is focusing on cutting taxes, education, Tax Subsidies and improving rural infrastructure.

Leading off with cutting taxes, Hansen stated,” I worked on the state referendum movement in 2020 when the State Legislature tried to double our food taxes, implement a new service tax and increase our fuel tax. We fought against that, we had a referendum movement and thanks to our local grocery stores we were one of the first counties to have the percentage of signatures required … The state doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.”

Moving on to education, Hansen spoke on what he wants to see for rural Utah,” We need to figure out that the funding formulas the state is using are not working. We need to switch from necessary essential small school funding to and change that to a true weighted pupil unit (WPU).”

Next, it was tax subsidies,” The funny thing about tax subsidies is they seem to go to the legislator’s donors while most of our legislators live on the Wasatch front … The only subsidies they should be giving are to rural economic development because that’s where we have room for growth and that’s where the tax base is needed so we can expand our state tax revenue overall.”

Finishing the key issues, Hansen discussed improving rural infrastructure,” If we want to see state economic growth, we have to make sure we have adequate infrastructure in our rural areas. Look at our roads, environmentalists fought and won and we’re not able to build a railroad that goes over Indian Canyon and into the Basin … All that oil is still getting on the railroad, it’s just being trucked over the top of Indian Canyon into price where it is loaded on the railroad. If that’s the case, we have to have the infrastructure on those roads.”

Next, we discussed Hansen’s recent win at the state Republican Convention where he came away with 88% of the delegate vote. Hansen spoke on what he feels led to this saying, “ The reason I was able to do so well is because I was able to sit down with them [the delegates] one-on-one. I love talking to people one-on-one and that’s how I earn their trust and understand their issues. They know that I listen, that I care and that I want to change things for the better.”

An issue that Hansen is very passionate about is centrally assessed property taxes,” On the state level, we need to make sure our centrally assessed values can be responsive to when federal rules come in. 78% of property assessments in Emery County come from centrally assessed. Around 30% of Carbon assessments come from centrally assessed.”

Our penultimate topic came talking about Hansen’s previous experience and how that experience can aid him in the legislature.” I am very service oriented, I’ve loved serving in education and serving kids, it’s been a great experience.” Hansen continued,” Know that I know how to get along with people, I know how to make coalitions that will bring us together and that will solve problems. I’m not afraid to tackle big issues, I’m not afraid to say “hey this is wrong” and to stand up in the legislature and say “hey we need to fight for rural Utah.”

To end, Hansen left the voters with this message,” There’s an adage that says if you keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results, that’s insanity. We have had the same legislators for a while … so it’s time for a change, and I hope you’ll elect Tom Hansen in this upcoming June primary.”

*Photo Courtesy of Tom Hansen