G.I. doubles down on another lie

by David Safier

I'm beginning to think the Goldwater Institute doesn't even care anymore. They used to try and stay just far enough inside the fact-based universe you couldn't say they were lying. Stretching, yes. Leaving out important information, yes. Reaching false conclusions, yes. But lying? No, or at least not often.

Now? They're lying on a regular basis.

Here's a lie I reported Darcy Olsen, President and CEO, said on the John C. Scott show. Now Byron Schlomach, G.I.'s director of the Center for Economic Prosperity, has repeated it.

The lie is this: the one cent sales tax increase would cost the average Arizona family about $600 a year.

The math on this is pretty simple. You have to spend $60,000 in taxable items to pay $600 in sales tax. Since much of what people spend money on doesn't have a sales tax attached — mortage/rent payments, food, services — a family would have to be well into the 6 figure yearly income to spend $60,000 on taxable items.

Darcy? Byron? Are you saying the average family income in Arizona is in excess of $100,000 a year? In your neighborhoods, maybe, but not in the rest of the state.

Here are Olsen's words on the John C. Scott show:

Families cannot afford a sales tax increase. They call it a penny, but it's actually almost 20%. It would cost the average Arizona family about $600 a year.

Here is Schlomach, paraphrased in an article on KPHO Phoenix's website:

The tax would amount to an 18 percent increase in the tax rate, according to Byron Schlomach, director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

It would also cost the average family of four about $600 a year, he said.

They're both wrong.