Election year posturing: Legislative Republicans Getting Cute Over Raising Taxes

Posted by Craig McDermott

Has anyone else noticed the Rs in the lege getting cute over raising taxes?

Exhibit A: Sen. Linda Gray's scheme to eliminate a special property tax classification for historic homes.  Such a move could raise revenue for K-12 schools and community colleges.  The text of Gray's proposal, SB1166, is here.

Exhibit B: A plan to change the standard exemption allowed to out of state residents who earn their income in Arizona. (end of the linked article)

How is this "getting cute"?

The scheme illustrated in Exhibit A wouldn't have any blowback for the lege – school districts would take the heat for a tax hike.  And this lege has absolutely no problem with citizens getting mad at their local public schools.

And Exhibit B?  "Out of state residents" = "out of state voters."  No blowback there, either.

Of course, since both schemes would effectively raise revenues, the moves might require a 2/3 majority to pass, and these days, they can't get 2/3 of the lege to agree on the time of day.

Stay tuned…