By Arizona Rep. David Stevens/
(R-District 25)
The SALES TAX REFERRAL (Senate Bill 1001), which passed the House on Feb. 4, will put the decision of whether to enact a one-cent sales tax to the voters in a special election slated for May 18.
This was the third vote on the issue in less than a year, and I strongly believe that time would have been better spent working toward balancing the budget. The first attempt last May was a stand-alone measure that failed with not one Democrat voting in favor of sending it to the ballot. In August, the sales tax referral was bundled with what was a very pro-business and pro-growth package. It passed in the House and failed in the Senate by one vote, again without any Democratic support.
Without the ballot referral, the Governor used her line item veto authority on most of the budget provisions passed by both Legislative bodies. This veto threw the state into an unbalanced budget for FY 2010 and was followed with three more special sessions to further reduce spending. Not being able to negotiate around this referral has made a terrible situation even worse as we are not able to balance the budget due to an uncertainty of a revenue source and amount in regards to the referral.
It is my opinion that we, the state of Arizona, must have our say on this matter. It will not go away without the final word from the voters. It has been debated on if we, the Legislature, should have a straight up or down vote for the sales tax increase. That vote would fail on the floor of the House and I would vote NO on that bill. A sales tax increase would lose at least 15,000 jobs with a possibility of nearly 60,000 people needing additional support from the state. That scenario would be disastrous to our economy and would likely prolong the recession for many more years to come.
Now it's time to get the final word from Arizona voters on the sales tax increase. I strongly believe this is the best way to move forward with an issue as weighty as a tax increase.
Sen. Manny Alvarez (D-25) and Representative Pat Fleming (D-25) have voted NO three times stating they would not support a ballot referral. Indeed, Rep. Fleming indicated she would prefer having a straight up-or-down vote on the Floor.
Arizona has a very robust voter initiative process and voters know what is at stake with this referral. It's disappointing that Sen. Alvarez and Rep. Fleming have wasted months on the discussion instead of simply acting to let their constituents decide how they'd like to move forward.
If the referral passes, all of the tax revenue will be placed in the General Fund and the Legislature will then decide where to appropriate all of the new tax revenue.
The SALES TAX REFERRAL (Senate Bill 1001), which passed the House on Feb. 4, will put the decision of whether to enact a one-cent sales tax to the voters in a special election slated for May 18.
This was the third vote on the issue in less than a year, and I strongly believe that time would have been better spent working toward balancing the budget. The first attempt last May was a stand-alone measure that failed with not one Democrat voting in favor of sending it to the ballot. In August, the sales tax referral was bundled with what was a very pro-business and pro-growth package. It passed in the House and failed in the Senate by one vote, again without any Democratic support.
Without the ballot referral, the Governor used her line item veto authority on most of the budget provisions passed by both Legislative bodies. This veto threw the state into an unbalanced budget for FY 2010 and was followed with three more special sessions to further reduce spending. Not being able to negotiate around this referral has made a terrible situation even worse as we are not able to balance the budget due to an uncertainty of a revenue source and amount in regards to the referral.
It is my opinion that we, the state of Arizona, must have our say on this matter. It will not go away without the final word from the voters. It has been debated on if we, the Legislature, should have a straight up or down vote for the sales tax increase. That vote would fail on the floor of the House and I would vote NO on that bill. A sales tax increase would lose at least 15,000 jobs with a possibility of nearly 60,000 people needing additional support from the state. That scenario would be disastrous to our economy and would likely prolong the recession for many more years to come.
Now it's time to get the final word from Arizona voters on the sales tax increase. I strongly believe this is the best way to move forward with an issue as weighty as a tax increase.
Sen. Manny Alvarez (D-25) and Representative Pat Fleming (D-25) have voted NO three times stating they would not support a ballot referral. Indeed, Rep. Fleming indicated she would prefer having a straight up-or-down vote on the Floor.
Arizona has a very robust voter initiative process and voters know what is at stake with this referral. It's disappointing that Sen. Alvarez and Rep. Fleming have wasted months on the discussion instead of simply acting to let their constituents decide how they'd like to move forward.
If the referral passes, all of the tax revenue will be placed in the General Fund and the Legislature will then decide where to appropriate all of the new tax revenue.
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