I tried to tell everyone before the May 2010 special election to raise the sales tax in AZ one cent, with the promise of saving education by doing so, that our legislators were lying to everyone. It’s blackmail, I said, with nothing in the bill to stop them from making the cuts anyway. Educators and parents came out and passed a billion dollar tax on us to save education. Now they are all crying that they were lied to and blackmailed. Guess what? That’s what I said before the vote. But no one listens to me.
The Arizona Senate late Wednesday passed a budget despite widespread objections over its deep cuts, particularly to K-12 education and universities.
The steepest cuts are to education. Universities are targeted to lose 26 percent of their state funding; K-12 education faces reductions of about 7 percent, even as money from a temporary sales tax is being collected in the name of preventing deep cuts to K-12 education
Jennifer Loredo, lobbyist for the Arizona Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, reminded lawmakers that the union supported the temporary 1-cent-per-dollar sales tax increase Brewer pushed for last year.
"They understood it wasn't going to be the best fix and it wasn't going to be a magic bullet," she said. "But they thought it would protect education funding."
Other education supporters also said the Senate plan undermines the promise of the tax increase.
The Arizona Education Network, a Tucson-based group of parents, teachers and other advocates, said the cuts not only to K-12 but to universities and community colleges make last May's sales-tax victory a hollow one.
"For our state Senate leaders to thumb their noses at Arizona voters by reversing public will violates their responsibility to their constituents," Ann-Eve Pedersen, the group's president, said in a news release.
The universities would take a cumulative cut of $235 million - $65 million more than Brewer proposed in January. That works out to a reduction of 26 percent for each of the three universities.
Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
When Arizona voters passed the one cent increase in state sales tax in May 2010 by a 3-2 ratio, they did so believing it would save education from massive cuts with Brewer as the cheerleader for the tax. She reveled in her victory.
"This is the beginning of Arizona's comeback," Brewer said as victory appeared certain.
The tax will bring sales-tax levies for purchases made in Phoenix to 9.3 cents on the dollar.
The statewide sales tax is not a silver bullet for the state's budget woes. Cuts that have led to the elimination of all-day kindergarten, reductions in health care for low-income Arizonans, a freeze on the KidsCare program and the closure of several state parks and highway rest stops will not be reversed.
The estimated $1 billion a year from the tax will go to education, public safety and health and human services. But tax proponents warn that further cuts are likely as the state climbs out of a recession.
Education appeared to be the winning ingredient. The Yes on 100 campaign relied heavily on appeals to the needs of schools and noted repeatedly that two-thirds of the revenue would go to education.
Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/...
Education was the winning strategy to pass the tax, but is still the loser in the budget. Liars, liars, liars. Now parents and educators are feeling duped.
University of Arizona political science professor Tom Volgy said small government plays well until people see core services going away. Even so, he said he was still stunned at the margin. "The big fear was that Arizonans wouldn't trust this Legislature with a penny, yet they were willing to take the risk that the Legislature wasn't lying to them about where the money would go."
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ttp://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_e1905c9b-ba31-58c5-8983-0a425b711330.html
The voters took the risk and lost. They lied, lied, lied. Liars.
There were people before the tax election who were skeptical and tried to warn the voters (besides me). AZ was fixing to give steep tax cuts to special interests and business while they planned their education cuts. Brewer was out front telling the voters it was all to save education.
The tax campaign is happening as lawmakers consider tax cuts and incentives that benefit business, with the goal of attracting jobs. The estimated cost to the state budget over the next three years: $141.2 million, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
Wary Democrats say there is no guarantee the tax would protect education and other services. Although the money would be directed to those areas, lawmakers could cut other funds for those programs.
Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, the Legislature's loudest critic of the tax hike, agreed.
"They can cut other funds," Gould said. "So it's all a big game."
Other critics say the sales-tax hike risks being used only to "pay for" the tax cuts likely to be approved later this month.
"It looks like you put the money in, and then you dig it out at the bottom," Sen. Debbie McCune Davis, D-Phoenix, said of the pending tax-cut legislation.
http://www.azcentral.com/...
Cuts in the budget have been proportional to cuts in taxes given to business. It is a failed strategy but this doesn’t stop them from doing the same old thing over and over.
For the past 40 years, Republicans have controlled the Arizona legislature and the Republican strategy has been to reduce government by cutting taxes but this strategy has proven to be a dismal failure.
If the premise of budget cuts are inversely proportional to the creation of economic growth leading to new jobs, just the opposite has happened having budget cuts contributing to the loss of economic growth with fewer jobs. The result of budget cuts has had its most adverse impact devastating programs for all Arizonans with a magnified severe blow to low and moderate income Arizonans using health and education programs.
The "quality of life" in Arizona is the index measurement and the "quality of life" in Arizona has steadily diminished throughout the state. To reverse this trend, Arizona urgently needs to take a hard look at increasing revenue. Restoring the public trust demands more than budget cuts. The long term strategy requires immediate action but Arizonans can not wait for 5, 10, 15, or 20 years to implement economic growth.
There are more than a $1 Billion in tax exceptions in the state budget. Goldwater Libertarians and other Republicans are not keen on this idea, but if these tax exceptions to businesses have not been the answer to promote economic growth — concluding by reasonable assumption — the proof is in the pudding, they do not work!
http://www.hispanic.cc/...
The voters were lied to, but until they wake up and figure it out, the Republicans in this state are determined to undermine education. I would urge anyone who feels lied to, to sign the recall petitions against Brewer and Pearce. Their values are not the values of Arizonans, but now we are stuck with them and their education slashing policies. The people voted to save education, the legislatures voted yesterday to decimate it. Liars. Billion dollar liars.