Initiative to Repeal the Republican Flat Tax for the Rich is Likely Headed for the 2022 Ballot

Arizona may not become like Kansas after all. Education activists filed a petition for an initiative that, if approved for the ballot, will stop the republican Flat Tax for the rich from ever taking effect.

Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas said the referendum process is necessary “to refer bad policy to the voters so that they can reject it.”

Leaders of Invest in Arizona Coalition submitted signatures for two ballot referenda to the Secretary of State’s office. If these signatures are verified and put on the November 2022 ballot, voters can repeal the republican Flat Tax for the rich (SB1828) and the creation of a small business tax loophole for wealthy individuals (SB1783) so they can avoid paying taxes into the Invest in Ed/Proposition 208 fund.

Once the initiative is on the ballot, the disastrous laws are immediately halted from taking effect.

Invest in Arizona held an event at the State Capitol on September 27, 2021, after they submitted the signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Saying “giving up is not in our DNA” and “children deserve a future that is worthy of them,” Thomas said that the groups that make up the Invest in Arizona coalition again “got the job done” by getting the hundreds of thousands of signatures necessary to turn over to the Secretary of State’s office. The Arizona coalition includes many of the same activists who belong to the Invest in Education-Proposition 208 movement.

Later at the event, Rebecca Gau of Stand for Children confirmed they submitted 215,787 signatures to repeal SB1828 and 123,531 to cancel SB1783. Petitions need 118,823 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

There is an understandable concern that after checking the submittals, there may not be enough valid signatures for the ballot initiative to repeal SB1783

Gau also warned that the opponents of Invest in Education and Invest in Arizona have already submitted suits to not count the submitted ballot signatures and that the battle was not over yet.

The third petition would have done away with SB1827, a bill that would eliminate the 4.5 percent tax cap. It did not get enough signatures to send to the Secretary of State’s office.

The three petitions that the Arizona Deserves Better Coalition asked voters to sign that could have nullified a purge of the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL), the stripping of power from the Secretary of State, and the prohibition of election officials to apply for private grants to help run elections, also did not receive the required 118,823 signatures.

In a legal ruling on September 27, 2021, Maricopa County Superior Coury Judge Katherine Cooper did restore the power taken away from the Arizona Secretary of State.

Arizona Deserves Better Co-Executive Director Alison Porter offered her perspective on the failure to gather the required signatures for the three pro-Democracy petitions, stating:

“The noble effort taken on by an all-volunteer group fell short of getting enough signatures but was successful in creating more awareness that AZ legislators and Governor Doug Ducey are willing to pass bills that the majority of voters strongly oppose.  Many, many voters spoke directly or using the AZ Legislature’s Request To Speak system to convey their disagreement of anything becoming law that creates any barrier to voting for anyone.  Volunteers collected signatures to fight the voter suppression bills and worked together with Invest in AZ volunteers collecting signatures to stop reductions in education funding and volunteers carrying petitions to require disclosure of big money (dark money) being used to influence voters.

Arizona Deserves Better volunteers successfully raised awareness of all issues with neighborhood outreach, inviting neighbors to learn more about the laws and to sign petitions.  They will continue to work to protect Democracy in Arizona, making sure voters’ rights are protected, and to help voters become aware of what kind of laws are being made at the capitol and the option to replace them in the next election.”

Commenting on the overall results of the petition drive, Children’s Action Alliance head (and Invest in Arizona and Invest in Education leading voice) David Lujan relayed:

“We are thrilled that we were able to achieve the monumental task of getting enough signatures to put these huge tax giveaways to the rich on the ballot. Collecting more than 218,000 signatures in the middle of the summer with an ongoing pandemic is a tribute to the thousands of dedicated volunteers who once again rose to the task to protect funding for Arizona’s public schools and for so many other important needs. Despite the monumental efforts of volunteers, we could see that the signatures for SB1827 and 1783 were falling short so we focused a lot of our efforts on 1828 because that bill contains the bulk of the tax cuts for the rich, an estimated $1.5 billion. I cannot say why signature collection fell short for the Arizona Deserves Better campaign since I was not involved in that effort, but there is a reason that referendums are rarely done – getting that many signatures in just 90 days are a huge task. That is why we are thrilled to have been able to get almost double the number of signatures required for 1828. It demonstrates that Arizona is fed up with seeing more and more tax giveaways to the rich at the expense of our public schools. I would say that enthusiasm for these measures is only growing not waning. In the last two weeks, we saw people lining up all over the state to sign the petitions, and poll after poll shows Arizona voters strongly support our efforts.”

Moving Forward

It is unfortunate that not all six ballot referendums will make the 2022 November ballot.

While it is gratifying that Judge Cooper restored powers back to the Secretary of State and the flat tax repeal measure will likely face final judgment from the voters, there is still a tremendous fight ahead. The forces of political reactionism and darkness will continue their quest to suppress Democracy, stifle public school funding, and promote a plutocratic-oligarchic society that rewards the wealthy by appealing to higher courts in Arizona to overturn the Cooper ruling and throw out enough signatures so the referendums to overturn SB1828 and SB1783 do not make it to the 2022 ballot.

However, in another sign that the courts may not have fully gone to the judicial dark side, the Arizona Supreme Court, on September 29, 2021, refused to put a block on any of Judge Cooper’s rulings, including the ones on masks in schools, the taking of power from the Secretary of State, and prohibiting local authorities from instituting mask and vaccine mandates.

Furthermore, now that the law to purge voters from PEVL is now official if they miss a vote over the next two election cycles, voter activists will now have to work to ensure no one misses voting in elections so they are not removed from the Early Voting List.

The fight to save Democracy, fairness, and Arizona’s children are not over yet.