Are you upset because Invest In Ed & Outlaw Dirty Money were kicked off the Nov 6 ballot by right-wing, activist judges?
Here’s what you can do about it…
If you believe in these ideas:
- Ensuring transparency in campaign finance reporting,
- Getting big and dirty money out of politics,
- Finding sustainable funding for public education,
- Stopping the tax giveaways and, instead, raising revenue for education,
- Stopping vouchers for private and religious schools,
There are three important NO votes you can make:
- No on Prop 126
- No on Prop 305
- No on Prop 306
According to state Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley:
On Nov 6, Just Say NO
Thousands of Arizonans carried petitions through the summer heat to get the Outlaw Dirty Money and Invest In Ed Citizens Initiatives on the Nov 6 ballot.
Just a few weeks ago, the Arizona Supreme Court tossed both of these initiatives off the ballot– despite their obvious popularity with the voters and despite the gargantuan signature drives that were mounted by the people.
Outlaw Dirty Money was an attempt to bring more transparency to campaign finance laws. Invest In Ed would have raised the income tax on Arizona’s richest residents to pay for stable funding for public education. If you believe in these ideas– campaign finance transparency, getting big money out of politics, sustainable funding for public education, stopping the tax giveaways, and stopping school vouchers– there are three important votes you can make on Nov. 6– No on Prop 126, No on Prop 305 and No on Prop 306.
Prop 126 is the Arizona Realtors Association initiative, which preemptively exempts all services from TPT (sales tax) FOREVER. This is a loss of hundreds of millions in potential future revenue. Vote NO on Prop 126 if you believe that we must leave the door open to new strategies that can raise revenue for public education.
Prop 305 is the Save Our Schools Citizens Initiative to stop school vouchers. Vote No on Prop 305 because public funds should be spent on public education– not private or religious schools.
Prop 306 is the Republican Legislature’s latest attempt to kill the Clean Elections system and dramatically weaken the independent campaign finance watchdog duties of the Citizens Clean Election Commission. Vote NO on Prop 306 if you want to protect a system that audits campaign finance reports and allows candidates to say no to big money politics.
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Beryl Baker, Candidate for State House LD3, gathered over 1000 signatures each for both Outlaw Dirty Money and Invest in Ed. (Over 2000 signatures) because she felt both are such important issues. She also worked on the 305 petition believing it was important the Voters have a say in where public monies are used.
Beryl Baker urges you to vote NO on 305 and YES on 127.
I refer you to my comment (“Prop 126 might violate the “separate amendment” rule.”) on AZ BlueMeanie’s column “No on Prop. 126, the false and purposefully misleading Protect Arizona Taxpayers Act
Posted on August 14, 2018”. (It’s at https://blogforarizona.net/no-on-prop-126-the-false-and-purposefully-misleading-protect-arizona-taxpayers-act/.)
If somebody wanted to really stop Prop 126 they’d file a challenge to its ballot legitimacy. This would do two things.
First, it might work if pigs learn to fly. (I think the right attorney might turn the tide, but it would be a very uphill battle right now before the election. And no AZ judge is going to overturn the voters’ preference after the election, especially if it’s by a wide margin.)
Second, it could create just enough of a negative publicity opportunity to educate the public about it bad effects on state finance. But that’s a long shot too. I believe it will pass by a wide margin.
And the AZ courts might not even accept the lawsuit now.
The real estate industry has been paranoid about transaction taxes since the late 80s and early 90s when they were all wearing ” no transaction tax “buttons even when none were proposed in Arizona. But every time California burbs Arizona interests want to be exempt from whatever idea happens in California. The renewable energy item is one such issue. The best sales tax system is one that taxes the widest possible base with the smallest possible rate. Arizona has learned the hard lesson about innumerable exemptions to its tax code. Every one of them, of course, absolutely essential to the Arizona economy. The number of terrible exemptions is very long. We could vote for Super Bowl tickets being exempt from sales tax as one of the worst. Absolutely vote No on 126.