Editorial argument confirms math deficiencies in Arizona.

The Stars editorial section contained a “letter to the editor” from one Leslie McGee chiding the math of a previous writer, one Tom Jenny. Jenny suggested that passing Prop 100 would boost the tax burden of the average household by approximately $400 a year. Leslie, after a semi-convoluted example arrived at a figure of $72 for a typical Arizona family. Now that is a pretty substantial variance wouldn’t you say. Notwithstanding the results lets take a look at some published statistics and you can draw your own conclusion.

Before we start I need to lay out one simple ground rule, and that is “the more you earn, the more you normally spend and thus the more tax you pay”. We also need to understand that I emphasize average here and the word “average” covers the spectrum from dirt poor to really rich. Fair enough? In our discussion we also need to note that Tom Jenny uses the term “household” while Leslie McGee changes the dialogue and uses “family”. I am not sure if this is an oversight but there is a vast difference when used in context of the discussion. I will use the term “family” for the sake of comparing “apples to apples” since in my opinion comparing “household” to “family” is more of an “apples to oranges” approach. And besides, the U.S. Census Bureau uses “family” in their studies as they clearly make a distinction between the two.

I will start out by doing the simple math, the same math that the University of Arizona is now being forced to provide for incoming freshman who do not meet the math skills necessary for enrollment. We find that the current population of Arizona is 5,130,632 and is comprised of approximately 1,613,406 family’s. The math as I did it is as follows: 5,130,632(Arizona’s published population) ÷ 3.18(Arizona’s Average Family Size) = 1,613,406 family’s. The proposed revenue to be generated by the new tax from Prop 100 is $1B, that’s “B” for billion, or written as $1,000,000,000. Dividing the $1B by the estimated 1,613,406 family’s gives us $620 per family. Now what is so hard about that? All that I can surmise is that both Tom and Leslie pulled the numbers out of “where the sun doesn’t shine” in an effort to get a hurried letter off to the Editor???

In case they did do the research, then I can only suggest that they need to enroll in the University of Arizona’s new sub-class math course.

And no, I do not support the average $620 annual increase in sales tax. VOTE NO ON PROP 100.