I see in the morning paper that in an unusual bipartisan effort, the state Senate is moving ahead with an effort to raise the state sales tax by approximately 18%. Fortunately for us, they have to put it on a ballot and get us, the voters, to approve it. And yes, they say it is only for a 3 year period and it will go away after that. Right!!! We all know that is just theory because the reality of it is that once they have the revenue stream they never cut it off. They create bigger government and then it becomes "Murphy's law" and we all know how that goes. According to Wikipedia; Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". So when everything goes wrong they will keep the tax in place to make up for it.
The Senate then goes on to say that "this sales tax increase is preferable to the alternative of cutting spending by $900 million a year". And to that, I say, who says? The housing bubble started this whole thing and as values sky rocketed the tax basis burgeoned. And with that each government entity, from the smallest cities to the biggest county grew disproportionately in size. Each department added layer on top of layer of redundancy. Every department head surmised that if they had more employees, their importance would be elevated. Give me a "few good men", in this case some private accounting people, and let me sit down with the department working stiffs and I can show you how to get back down to fighting weight. No, I didn't say department managers or heads, I said the worker bees because they can point out the waste faster than any manager will. For a manager or department head to identify waste it's like asking the fox to guard the chicken coup. But unfortunately, government will not assent to outside oversight so that is just a dream I have.
I read in the same morning paper that our state lawmakers are taking steps to block a new casino in Glendale by the Tohono O'odham tribe. That got me looking back to the sales tax article and I see a reference to the revenues the State receives from state-approved gambling. Not only will the new casino create "boo-koo" construction jobs, it will create new jobs for casino employees and service entities. The tribe also says they would pay their fair share of the already completed infrastructure which would reimburse the City of Glendale for what they have already placed as a tax burden on the taxpayers. I'll bet that the tribe would even consider a gratuitous sales tax to the city on top of the gaming tax they pay the State. Even if they don't pay the sales tax they will be a premium draw to the area which will benefit from their clientele.
Let me get back to why am I opposed to raising the state sales tax? Reason number one, and the most obvious from my perspective, is that raising the sales tax impacts the poor and impoverished by a disproportionate amount. The most recent statistics rank Arizona's poverty rate as the 13th highest in the nation at 14.7% at year ending 2008. Beyond that one only has to look at what has happened over the past year to reach the conclusion that the rate has gone higher. These people can barely afford the bare essentials as it is, and to thrust an additional tax burden on them is unrealistic. And my second reason Madame Governor and members of the Senate and House, is that you need to find a different solution. I hear you when you say that you have cut everything to the bare bones, but I don't believe you. Turn the clock back a few years and see how you were able to get by then. And of course, you can adjust for any population increase, but only for those mandatory items that are necessary for their safety. Forget the entitlements.
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