Trying to have their cake and eat it too, and making AZ's taxpayers foot the bill

I'm leaning more and more to voting against the temporary sales tax hike on the ballot in May.

Not because I don't think that the revenue is needed for Arizona's schools and infrastructure, but because it is looking more and more like the move is nothing more than an attempt to further shift the state's tax burden away from corporations and the wealthy on to the backs of AZ's poor and middle class residents.


Exhibit one:

The Yes on 100 campaign, supporting the passage of the sales tax hike. From the boilerplate at the bottom of the main page - "Major funding by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry..." Also on the list of supporters are some Chambers of Commerce, including Tucson's.


Exhibit two:

This letter, courtesy the website of the Arizona House Republicans, lobbying for passage of HB2250, the R caucus' laundry list of corporate tax cuts (fiscal note here). One of the 29 signers of the letter?

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Also on the list of signatories?

Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce (as well as a number of local C-of-Cs.)


There are other areas of overlap between the memberships of the two groups, but those two examples are the most direct.

Part of me is still willing to bite the bullet and vote for the sales tax increase, but if the lege passes its corporate tax cut package (or something similar) before the election, or is even still in session come election day, waiting for the polling places to be closed before passing the package, I'll be voting "no" on Prop 100.

I cannot support increasing taxes on Arizona's residents only to backfill tax cuts for corporations.

Period.