Comments on: Legislators Should Hold the Line Against the Brewer Tax

By: LiberalWatcher

LiberalWatcher — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:21:30 +0000

Tom Jenney has a lot rhetoric, but none of his ideas to balance the budget will work.
The budget is short between 3 and 4 billion dollars. The vast majority of the budget is MANDATED SPENDING passed by the VOTERS.
How do you undo that in time for the budget deadlines ahead?
Tom would have you believe we could sell off prisons, state land and rip down education expenditures.
Great. What business comes to Arizona when it sees we rip down the dollars to educate the future work forces? Or who wants to bring their businesses with good paying jobs to Arizona if their employees don’t have access to decent public education?
Do the school districts need to find a better way to do business. Yes, particularly the big districts, but there is no incentive in current law for them to do so.
We would need to overhaul all the mandated spending laws – go back to the voters with a new consolidated package – but one that has incentives for the districts to do better in order to get state funding.
But those items alone will not alleviate the budget.
Gov. Brewer has been tossed the keys to a government that is in trouble.
How do we make it better?
By shutting down government?
The rip and burn approach is short sighted. When you need the DPS crime lab, need an emergency road crew to put the freeway back together, need a CPS investigator to grab kids who are being harmed by others, need your truly indigent auntie to get help via AHCCCS for an emergency hospitalization or need the state registrar of contracts to go after another fly by night so called builder, who answers those calls for free?
The Gov. needs to publish a complete budget of all agencies.
Short sighted legislators who say “we cut the bottom line and then trust agency heads to find the economy” are lacking in depth – how do you know what you are cutting if you cannot see the depth of the budgets.
The Legislature is awash in people who lack either the education or business experience to do budget work and strategic planning to that depth. Most all the legislative leaders with great sway over the budget lack either a college degree or business experience.
Scarey as it may seem, more of the Democrats have either the education or business ownership behind them. And they sit watching while the Republicans blow themselves up with their own ignorance.
Kicking out every illegal alien alone with not balance the budget. We don’t have either the local or Federal law enforcement to bulldoze them out. By the way, illegal or not, the ones that have left stopped spending money – thus, a drop in sales tax revenues. Go ask Mesa how it plans to continue police and fire services next year at the current levels with stretched out response times? They don’t know.
Somewhere there is a balance, but Tom Jenny has neither the education nor business experience to do anything but be a shotgun bull horn leader.
But he could be thoughtful instead of shooting from the hip, so I’ll give him that margin. Anyway, when is the last time the taxpayers group won an election?

By: kralmajales

kralmajales — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:14:43 +0000

I think the citizen taxpayers are not going to say “no more” to reasonable hikes in taxes. What they are also saying is that they don’t want schools, universities, and the like stripped down even more.

By: DSW

DSW — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:38:58 +0000

If we continue to write the checks for these programs and the citizen taxpayers say “No More!” where do you all propose we get the money? And when the next budget comes around and it’s worse than 2010, where do we get the money? Do the public policy makers have to drive the ship of state into land before they realize the ship ain’t gonna go no more?

By: kralmajales

kralmajales — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:06:27 +0000

Roger’s point #3,

They have been passing taxes off as fees, fines, and as unfunded mandates for years now. They pass the buck down to the local level where only property taxes and bond measures can pay the bills…and this includes for public safety, which they speak out of both sides of their mouths about.

We hate govt and govt spending and taxe are evil…uh oh…but for cops and firefighters!!!!

By: kralmajales

kralmajales — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:04:21 +0000

The conservative force is buckling under pressure because their jobs are on the line and no one wants what you are peddling. They may just save themselves…but if they anything to do that…you will hang them.

Welcome to permanent minority party status!

By: Rightwoman

Rightwoman — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:22:34 +0000

Tom is trying to point out that the conservative force is starting to buckle under the pressure. I say, call their offices, write to the legislators and let them know to hold the line and not give in.

Let’s allow the Governor to fix the problem by line iteming programs that do not deliver.

By: todd

todd — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:20:51 +0000

Roger – you better be careful or they might come pay you a visit with their giant blow-up toy.

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:19:09 +0000

PC- Nevermind the fact that the R’s also already raised taxes on us by raiding the cities funds and impact fees.

Our “conservative” Reps have sold us up a river with accounting gimmicks and rollovers.

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:15:55 +0000

Haha! Thanks for the Thursday afternoon funnies. “Don’t refer a tax increase because it might just pass!” Seriously, THAT’S your argument?

By: Pricinct Committeeman

Pricinct Committeeman — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:03:50 +0000

We shouldn’t ignore the fact that Brewer has already increased taxes on us by vetoing the portion of the budget bills that would have made the suspension of the state equalization property tax permanent. That means, the $250 million tax comes back next year by taking the money out of our wallets.

She has become a tax and spend con-artist.