Utah is one of the best run states in the country, from an egovernment and general management perspective.

At least, that's according to the Pew Center on the States. Compare states' report cards with that linked page.

But yeah, the keyword legislation is stupid.

Hehe. This is a great story, especially the bit about the iced tea. I am sure the Mormons in your group appreciated the sentiment, but the vast majority of Mormons wouldn't have held it against you.

What people don't get is that within Mormonism there are mostly mainstream Mormons and then a handful of dogmatic Mormons. Just like in the Catholic church, in Judaism, in Islam, etc. Utah's legislature gets populated with these kinds of people for the same reason Congress does.

Techincally, a "tax expenditure" is when the government forgoes revenue on something in order to protect or promote it (ex. the 501(c)(3) tax exemption is a tax expenditure on charitable activities). See this definition: Tax Expenditure

The federal government "spends" vast amounts of money by specially exempting certain things from taxation. (This is not to be confused with the stuff government doesn't have a right to tax to begin with.)