Update 5: Brewer signs parts of budget: brings back equalization property tax…

Update 5: 9/4/09 4:41pm AZ Time: Well with 1 day to go, Jan Brewer has signed off on parts of the budget and not others, we lost a great chance at tax cuts, Brewer is polling lower than “anyone else” literally, so her numbers cannot get much worse, but this really sucks:

If the election were held today, when given the option of Jan Brewer, or anyone else on the face of the earth as Arizona’s next Governor, voters opted for the latter, according to a poll released Monday.

The local political consulting group that conducted the poll, The Summit Group, found that only 18 percent of Arizona voters would cast their vote for the execrated chief executive, in contrast to 46 percent, who say they would vote for just about anyone else…

She allowed the comeback of the property tax, great for residents and commercial interests right now eh? and she vetoed spending cuts again. She did not get her sales tax ballot referral but she seems to be ‘bitterly clinging’ to the idea:

PX Business Journal:

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer OK’d portions of state budget bills Friday, but she nixed a permanent repeal of a $250 million property tax on businesses and residents. Brewer’s move upset business and real estate advocates who want the state equalization rate gone. The property tax was temporarily repealed in 2005, but will come back without action.

The Legislature has blocked the sales tax increase vote, and Brewer could call another special session to try again on that front. The state budget should have been done July 1. The governor also nixed some education cuts in the budget bill she signed off on Friday.

…“The whole concept of taxing our way into prosperity, as Winston Churchill once said, is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Let’s face it, everyone knows that increased spending and taxes are the worst possible option in this economy,” said Lawless, whose group has been a major proponent of getting rid of the equalization tax…

(more…)

August 11, 2009. Tags: Arizona politics, AZ Budget, AZ budget deficit, AZ Housing, AZ jobs, AZ taxes, AZ Unemployment, Brewer budget deal, deficit spending, Jan Brewer, Jim Drake, Rep. John Kavanagh. Economy, Finance, Obama Administration, Politics. Comments off.