Thursday, February 4th, 2010...9:11 am
Sales Tax to House Today
I have no earthly idea if the sales tax will pass the House. I doubt there are votes in the Republican caucus to pass it, and Democratic leadership is less than enthusiastic about the bill.
I’ve gotten some feedback from R Cubed fans asking why Democrats in the Senate voted for the bill. Word from folks I talked to is that Jorge García got a promise that Bob Burns would not hear Kirk Adams’s tax cut bill until after the next budget is passed and that the referral would be decoupled from eliminating Prop 105 protections. There was also a concern expressed by some Senators that Dems in the Senate would be labeled as “obstructionist” if they didn’t vote for the referral.
And here’s a piece of information that will dispel any beliefs left over from your Junior High Social Studies class: the Senate leadership had the bill refered to the Natural Resources committee. They tried to give a rhetorically contorted reason for this, but the real reason it was referred there was because they didn’t think it would pass a more relevant committee. Why give these committees issue portfolios at all? Name them like old NHL divisions, it would make as much sense.
3 Comments
February 4th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Just speaking as one taxpayer, I understand the need for more revenue right now but I’d only vote for the sales tax IF AND ONLY IF I thought it would actually go to where it is needed in the state.
If the legislature also votes for tax cuts then I’d be inclined to vote against it because I see no reason to raise taxes just to pay for tax cuts elsewhere.
So pencil me in as a ‘lukewarm supporter’ of a sales tax hike that could easily move to the other side of the ledger depending on what else they do.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
I agree with you Eli. If the Legislature and the Governor persist in decimating Education, Health and DES programs, with no regard to the Arizonans who will be directly and indirectly affected then I too will vote no–even though I understand the need for more revenue.
Another ‘Lukewarm Supporter’ of a sales tax hike–but watching the Legislature and Governor before going to the polls in May!
February 5th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
The committee is Natural Resources, Infrastructure, and Public Debt. It was the “public debt” part that they used to justify sending the referral there. Technically its not an appropriation, and it wouldn’t have made it out of that commitee, anyway. Pearce said so and even signed off on Burns sending it to Nelson’s commitee.