private prisons

President Biden Signs Executive Orders Advancing Racial Equity

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Saying the nation “has faced deep racial inequities and systematic racism that has plagued our society far too long,”  President Joe Biden, accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris, signed a series of Executive Orders advancing racial equity in the federal government. Citing the George Floyd murder as the “knee on the neck of justice”  as … Read more

Focus People, Focus!

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Cross-posted from RestoreReason.com.

I was at a SOS AZ presentation on public education funding last night and after a slide about corporate tax credits, one young woman advocated for holding the corporations responsible for not supporting our schools. Although I would normally be one of the first to vilify corporate America for their greed at the expense of the rest of us, I think her ire was a little misplaced. Arizona corporations after all, are just taking advantage of the laws incentivizing them to act a certain way. These aren’t loopholes that corporations are paying high-powered lawyers and accountants to find for them, but incentives the Legislature has directly handed to them to. It isn’t after all, like the tax credits allow the corporations to pocket more profit, they are still paying out the same amount of money (whether in taxes or credits), they just get to choose where their taxes go.

THEREIN lies the rub. THEY get to choose where their tax dollars go…not us, the people. That’s the problem with all these tax credits and exemptions, 331 is the number I heard last night, that the Arizona Legislature has granted. You see, ideally, tax credits should be granted to incentivize behavior that voters want and that produces good for all of us. We’ve all heard the saying though, that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When all the power in a government is consolidated on one side, the tendency is not to look at the common good, but the good of “your” people. And, when it is apparent to lawmakers that they can act with impunity because they will continue to get reelected despite their failure to provide for all the people in their care, the tendency is for them to do whatever they want.

Yes, corporations also have a responsibility to care about the common good, but I really don’t blame them for taking advantage of legal incentives for directing their tax dollars where the Legislature wants. The rest of us suffer though, because these incentives reduce the size of our general fund “pie”. We also suffer because the diverted funding, essentially our tax dollars, then has no accountability nor transparency associated with it. We don’t know if it is being used for the purpose intended and we certainly don’t know the return on our investment.

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That’s right Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore . . . you’re in the meth lab of democracy, Arizona

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I did a series of posts last year on the theme that Kansas is a cautionary tale for Arizona. Governor Sam Brownback’s faith based supply-side “trickle down” economics utopian experiment in Kansas has been an unmitigated disaster.

Even Gov. Brownback has now slowly begun backing away from his failed “trickle down” economics utopian experiment in Kansas. Pressed by Budget Squeeze, Gov. Sam Brownback of Kansas Pulls Back on Tax Cuts (Brownback on Friday proposed some higher sales taxes and slowing his plan to reduce state income taxes).

I gave you fair warning that Dicey Doug Ducey, the man hired by Koch Industries to manage their Southwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Arizona (h/t Charles Piece), now to be known as “Kochtopia,” has blind faith in the entirely disproved and discredited supply-side “trickle down” GOP economics. Doug Ducey is Arizona’s answer to Sam Brownback: a disaster in the making.

TotoDicey Doug Ducey still believes in unicorns and rainbows, despite the cautionary tale of Kansas.

That’s right Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore . . . you’re in the meth lab of democracy, Arizona, where crazy (right) winged monkeys are in charge. It is a way darker place than the Land of Oz.

Howard Fischer follows up his analysis of Dicey Doug Ducey’s slash and burn budget from yesterday. Ducey budget cut hits education, local governments, drivers:

Gov. Doug Ducey proposes to balance the state budget by cutting aid to universities by more than 10 percent, taking some revenue-sharing dollars from cities and counties, and imposing what amounts to a new tax on motorists.

Ducey’s nearly $9.1 billion spending plan, about $187 million less than this year, also cuts funding to promote tourism and dips into other state funds to the tune of $304 million.

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Left and Right come together for sentencing reforms

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On Election Day, California voters approved Proposition 47, a sentencing reform measure designed to address prison overcrowding, something for which the state of California has faced several costly lawsuits and non-violent offenders have been ordered released by the courts. California Voters Pass Proposition 47 Sentencing Reform:

jail_barsCalifornia voters have approved Proposition 47, a ballot measure that will reclassify six low-level property and drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. These offenses include shoplifting, theft, and check fraud under $950, as well as personal use of most illegal drugs. State savings resulting from the measure are estimated to be at least $150 million a year and will be used to support school truancy and dropout prevention, victim services, mental health and drug abuse treatment, and other programs designed to expand alternatives to incarceration.

This historic vote demonstrates support to advance a public safety strategy beyond incarceration to include treatment and prevention. The measure allows individuals currently serving prison terms for eligible offenses to apply to have their felony sentences reduced to misdemeanors and persons who have completed their felony sentence to apply to the court to have their conviction changed to a misdemeanor. Approximately, 10,000 incarcerated persons will be eligible for resentencing under the new law.

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