The Wall Street Journal makes no bones about where it stands on Arizona with this article headlined: Grand Canyon Tax Showdown: Arizona’s other bad idea.
The editorial begins with a quick rebuke of SB 1070 and then slides right into Gov. Brewer‘s tax hike. Without missing a beat, the newspaper takes aim at Arizona State Sens. Pamela Gorman and Ron Gould, calling them “short-sighted” for their “no” votes on last year‘s tax package. While not naming them outright, their identities are clear to those who stay informed on legislative issues:
“Arizona is ground zero for the immigration debate, but tomorrow the state’s voters will also send a signal on taxes. They’ll cast judgment on Republican Governor Jan Brewer’s proposal to raise the state sales tax to 6.6% from 5.6% (not counting local tax add-ons) for three years in order to raise $1 billion more a year to reduce a $3 billion budget deficit.
Ms. Brewer has rallied the usual suspects behind her, including the teachers and other public employee unions, hospitals, government contractors, and even the local chambers of commerce. Any group that receives its financial sustenance from government is all in, and they’ve ponied up close to $2 million to scare the public into believing that a no vote means doomsday for schools, public safety and health, and, well, you’ve heard it all before. Opponents have spent very little.
The pro-tax deluge highlights why so many states and cities are bankrupt. The interests in state capitals that live off tax revenue have gained inordinate political power over the diffuse interests of taxpayers. The average Arizona family will pay $400 a year more if the sales tax increase prevails, which is a lot when you consider that President Obama’s “making work pay” tax credit is limited to $400 for individuals.
Taxpayer groups rightly object that the tax hike comes with no spending restraints. Arizona got into this crisis because during the boom years—2003 to 2007—then-Governor Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, and Republicans in the legislature let spending climb by more than 100% to $10 billion from $6.6 billion.
The Goldwater Institute, a local think tank, notes that the state school system employs one non-teacher for every teacher who works in a classroom. The current moment would seem ideal to rethink how government works, cut the bureaucracy and adjust public pensions, rather than laying off teachers. But the unions won’t hear it.
Last year we supported an Arizona tax reform that would have traded a sales tax hike for reductions in personal and corporate tax rates, but that lost due to two short-sighted GOP holdouts. Now the state may get the higher sales tax in return for nothing. Let’s hope Arizona voters say no and force the political class to adjust its spending habits to the new reality of slower revenue growth.”
And now we have Ms. Gorman taking a run at Congress! Swell. She “held her ground” in order to create a record to be able to point to during this conressional race. If she thought this position gave her conservative crendentials, she was dead wrong. Digging her feet in actually had the opposite effect.
Tomorrow (election day) is a bell-weather date for Arizona politics for 2010. A NO vote on Prop. 100 means that a majority of Arizona, regardless of left, right, middle, etc., simply has had enough of the taxes.
A “yes” vote means we have more work to do.
I voted for this tax (absentee). AZ is strapped for funds as are other states. ASU, for example, has already stated that if this tax is not passed they will have to lay-off workers. This is not an idle threat. This tax is necessary regardless of past mistakes made by Arizona legislators.
Get real WSJ and other’s the problem is in Washington D.C. with unfunded mandates, Arizona has a lot on it’s plate having to fund the problems with the illegal migration that our state deals with every day due to the Feds turning a blind eye.
Shows that the WSJ doesn’t know a whole lot about our state, everyone who has spent any time at the capitol knew that Brewer was going to yank that promise of lower taxes. Gorman knew that was coming, she’s no fool. Maybe it’s about time schools start laying off employees – they say the same thing everytime they want tuition to go up, nothing’s changed.
Hey Capitol watcher – if you were watching closely you would have known that the governor NEVER would have allowed those tax cuts to come to fruition. Those who actually spend time at the capitol know that that was the first “promise” to go. Gorman and Gould knew that, so why play games with constituents’ money in a recession? Maybe the rest of these “conservatives” who were going to work against the tax once it was on the ballot should take a lesson from those who stand up for something instead of cower behind threats – what a concept!
Actually,PC in LD, it seems the WSJ captured the essence of these ‘short-sighted” votes accurately.
And now Ms. Gorman wants to transition over to a congressional seat? God help us! The last thing we need is more of this brand of showboating!
Pamela Gorman’s stance on the sales tax increase is exactly what I want from a conservative; and during these times, her leadership on this issue is hard to come by, particularly in Washington.
Capitol watcher, you are clearly not a conservative, but please don’t pose to be one. All the conservatives I know were happy to mail in their ballots early on this issue, and vote no on the sales tax increase. I just wish we had stronger leadership in our state senate, so this issue would not have ever appeared on a special election. The state legislature needs to make cuts, not collect more of our money. The state budget this last decade has increased by nearly $5 billion. Whoever thinks that there is not room for cuts is misinformed. If that were the case, how were we ever surviving just ten years ago with a budget nearly half of what it is today.
And Gillenwater, a cut in staff at ASU is not a bad thing! Our k12 institutions, as well as the universities, have too many staff. They are not educating, they are simply cashing paychecks at the expense of the taxpayer. I believe this was the same argument with the .6% tax increase several years ago. Now, after billions have been collected, we find out that the school districts were not using the money properly, and instead were increasing staff at the expense of teachers. Cuts need to be made, and if more legislators in this state were like Pamela Gorman and Ron Gould, the cuts would be made, instead of asking for more of our money to support government excess!
Steve Moore continues to operate under the flawed assumption the Legislature would not just repeal the promised income tax cuts. Since the tax cuts WERE NOT going to the voters they would not be voter protected and could be repealed by a simple majority vote of the Legislature, as I was advised by the Senate Attorney. If you don’t believe this could happen, you have more faith in the members of the Legislature than I do. And guess what, I know them better than you do.
Quit trashing Gorman and Gould. Give me a break, like this tax is really going to expire in 3 years. Who knows what the mood of the state and country will be and who the state legislators and governor will be at that time. These clowns can promise to let the tax sunset in 3 years, but who knows how many of these people will be there to let it sunset in 3 years. Haven’t we learned anything over the past year or two about most of those who serve in out government? Tax and spend, lie and laugh. Gorman had it right then and I’m assuming she’s still against the tax hike, the WSJ and some of the people on here are incredibly wrong. Now go print more money or something.
Sens. Gorman and Gould were actually the two who threw real savings under the bus when they voted down the package. It included the elimination of state property taxes! How’s that for cost savings from this dynamic duo?
Hey, for those of you who like to live in OZ, the permanent repeal of the Equalization Tax (currently pegged at more than a quarter billion a year) and the lowering of the QTR would have been implemented IMMEDIATELY on Brewer’s signature.
In addition, the “conservative” Brewer would have triggered a Prop 108 requirement to have a two thirds majority in both houses to reimplement the other tax cuts in the package. Wouldn’t happen in this legislature.
If you have any questions as to whether the overall package was beneficial, please read the following:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574300083865544254.html
Now we have lost ALL the tax cuts and are still on the hook for the possible sales tax increase – as they were told at the time.
Gould and Gorman should have the integrity to admit their role in the deepening recession in Arizona and stop blaming others in the mold of Democrats. Sorry, Mr. Gould, but I have never seen a direct tax increase passed by the legislature in this century.