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:
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 The property tax was temporarily repealed in 2005, but will come back without action.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…
Update 4: 8/23: Well the state Dems really blew it for AZ as it stands right now. The maroons couldn’t get enough Dem votes to let the damn tax cuts and sales tax go to the people and pass the damn budget which had all these lovely PERMANENT tax cuts that would have attracted business and helped individuals.
Noooo, they had to play their version of hardball which has apprently resulted in them negotiating today with Brewer to put the stupid sales tax forward anyway only now we aren’t sure we have the permanent tax cuts. What a waste.
This is what frustrates me about the partisan politics. Between Dems who think no tax cut is acceptable and GOPs who won’t even let a proposed tax increase go to the people for a vote to close the budget gap, we sit here with NO budget and No tax cuts.
Maroons.
Legislative leaders are seeking bipartisan agreement on the referral of a temporary sales-tax increase to a special state ballot and have jettisoned $400 million in proposed income-tax cuts as they try to lure Democratic support. “We’re just going to talk to our members about getting a sales tax on the ballot,” said Wendy Baldo, chief of staff to Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria. The individual and corporate income-tax reductions originally envisioned as a part of the package had been cheered by small-government and business groups, but opposed by Democratic lawmakers who said this period of fiscal crisis is no time for tax cuts.
Meanwhile, GOP Gov. Jan Brewer met with Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate on Friday, and budget discussions were expected to continue this weekend before lawmakers return to the Capitol on Tuesday.
The income-tax cuts initially were lumped into the 2010 state-budget package as legislative leaders tried to sweeten the deal for conservatives opposed to the sales-tax increase sought by the governor. But the proposal came up just short in the state Senate as every Democrat voted against the plan.
Now, Senate officials say they’re pursuing a stripped-down plan that would be a sales-tax referral alone. The hope is to get support from pragmatic legislators of both parties, ending a budget logjam that has dragged on for months.
…Brewer has on her desk the rest of the Legislature’s spending plan and has until Wednesday to veto it or sign it into law. She has been mum on which way she’ll go, although she has long signaled that she views the budget as incomplete if it lacks a sales-tax provision to bring in more revenue. As written, the new 2010 budget plan is virtually identical to one that she vetoed July 1…
Oy vey how hard is this? Dems if you want the damn sales tax on a ballot vote for the tax cuts the GOP wants. GOP give them the damn sales tax on the ballot and let the people decide so we can have some tax cuts and get some business drawn to AZ again..Brewer, either sign the damn budget or step down-we didn’t elect you anyway…
ALERT: TAX CUTS SPOTTED IN THE SOUTHWEST!
Check it out, sounds like Gov Brewer has hit on a winning solution. I am thankful we moved here every day.
I am fine with it. If you can lower our corporate tax rate, which IIRC, is the second highest in the country, lower eliminate! property taxes and lower personal income taxes and raise the sales tax to pay for the spending (but not until 2010-11 and then only for a year), I think we have a deal..
Hey business, come on down!!
Today, the legislature in Arizona will vote on a tax reform designed to entice more employers and high-income taxpayers to the state. Sponsored by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, the plan would cut state property taxes, the corporate tax and personal income taxes, in exchange for a temporary rise in the sales tax…
…Effective January 1, 2011, her plan would reduce the state’s corporate income tax rate to 4.86% from 6.97%, which would be one of the largest business tax cuts in the nation in recent years. The proposal also cuts all personal income tax rates by 6.6%, thus lowering the top marginal rate to 4.24% from 4.54%. A hated statewide tax on commercial and residential property would also be abolished.
And how did we get into this fix? Spending with no money to back it up….
…Arizona has been hit especially hard by the housing slump, and its budget woes were compounded thanks to former Governor Janet Napolitano’s spending spree before she joined the Obama cabinet. On her watch the budget grew by more than 50% in five years—to $10.2 billion from $6.5 billion in 2004. The state now has a $1 billion budget gap, and to close it the legislature will also vote on a one percentage point increase in the sales tax to 6.6% in 2010 and 2011; in the third year the sales tax would fall to 6.1%, and in the fourth year would revert to its current 5.6% rate.
The sales tax increase will have to go on the ballot per our constitution. Our state GOP has been blocking that move, but this is a good deal for all concerned IMO. Of course some are still not happy. Guess who?
Democratic opponents are calling this a tax giveaway to big business.
Beatles courtesy of felix945
Update 11:04 am AZ time: Okay the ‘opposition’ to this budget proposal has this lede:
“AZ Democrats rip Gov. Brewer; demand higher taxes”
NO SHXT! ‘DEMAND higher taxes”
yeah you go with that, me I’ll take my Dem axx over to the GOP budget deal with Brewer as outlined below which is sensible, will pay for itself and will attract jobs and therefore ultimately more revenue to the state.
If whomever gave the interview with that quote wants to pay more taxes, no one is stopping you. Knock yourself out. Meanwhile we, the people of AZ elected a GOP majority (ironically I enjoy them now but voted against them as a Dem, mea culpa) and the people will ultimately get to vote on any proposed sales tax increase.
They just cannot help themselves. DEMANDING HIGHER TAXES is their plan. Cause it’s worked so well..uh…..yeah it hasn’t. anywhere. It doesn’t. Anywhere. It won’t. Anytime. I’m watching the clock to see if we can pass this lovely Brewer deal and call it a budget…will update…
Update 2: We are a few hours and 1 vote away from a deal. They split the tax bills in the Senate and are looking for one Yes GOP vote in the House to send the sales tax increase to a special election:
…Secretary of State spokesman Jim Drake says election officials will find a way to help the Legislature put the sales tax hike on the ballot for voters to decide Nov. 3. “We will find a way to do it, but let me tell you, it’s getting very, very difficult,” Drake said.
Senate President Bob Burns said Monday afternoon that the full Senate won’t be able to take a vote on the state’s larger budget-balancing plan by the deadline at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Instead, he hopes to hold floor votes Tuesday afternoon and then send the plan to the state House for tweaks.
…Burns said he believes he has enough votes in the Senate to pass nearly all of the budget package, but that the one remaining question is whether the measure with the sales tax hike will get the one vote it needs for passage.
Burns said Republicans in the House were having trouble rounding up enough votes for the measure with the sales tax hike. But Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills, chairman of the House appropriations committee, said the House likely would agree to the changes that were made to get the plan through the Senate. “It will be close but I think it will” win approval,” Kavanagh said….
Update 3: 3:38pm AZ time: Votes postponed and the sales tax (if it makes it through) will go to a special election in December as they missed the deadline for logistics to get it on the Nov 3rd ballot…..per KSWT,
GOP leaders haven’t yet rounded up enough support for passage of a larger budget-balancing plan that includes the tax increase. Election officials say they were running out of time to prepare for a Nov. 3 election.
The Senate was supposed to vote on the budget plan Tuesday, but postponed a vote because key senators were missing…
On the Net: Arizona Legislature: http://www.azleg.gov/
Moderate in the Middle 