Vox

Musings, rants, rambling, general nonsense

AZ Proposition 204 (2012)

Posted on | October 15, 2012 | 2 Comments

Prop 204: Effective June 1, 2013, permanently increases the state sales tax by one cent per dollar for the purpose of funding educational programs, public transportation infrastructure projects, and human services; forbids reductions to current K-12 and university funding levels; and forbids reductions to the current state sales tax base.

 
Spotted in PhoenixIt’s the same old song:

The politicians are doing it again, relying on scare tactics and your goodwill to confiscate more of your money. They do this rather than learn how to manage theirs (well, not theirs, yours – but the portion of your income they already take) Rather than make cuts in budget items they prefer not to touch, they cut things that tug at your heart-strings. Surely, rather than see cuts to police and fire services, the taxpayers will fork over more dough. The good people of Arizona certainly don’t want to see cuts in education (though more money hardly assures more quality, particularly in public education).

This time, they aren’t even trying to pretend the proposed tax increase will be temporary. So sure are they of your desire to ‘help’, this one comes right out and says it: “permanently increases the state sales tax”, “forbids reductions to the current state sales tax base”, and “forbids reductions to current K-12 and university funding levels”.

  • Permanent tax increase to cover the Legislature’s inability to spend within our state’s financial means’
  • Forbids reductions to state sales tax base, even if we get competent legislators in office who manage to reduce waste and pass fiscally responsible budgets.
  • Forbids reducing funding levels in our schools, even if we manage to rein in the out of control education department and the teachers union.

As the Goldwater Institute points out in The Misplaced Priorities of the Prop 204, even if all the money generated by Prop 204 was earmarked for education (which it is not), there is no reason to think the funds will reach the classroom. Our public school system is more worried about enriching the administrators than enriching the students.

Even still, during the darkest days of the recession, school funding was only reduced by 5 percent.

[…]

The solution offered by the Prop 204 campaign is to permanently funnel $1 billion annually to schools with no strings attached. Here’s the irony. As education funding was reduced to cope with the recession, schools chose to direct less money to the classroom than ever before. They preferred to fire teachers than reduce the ranks of non-teachers on school payrolls. In 2011, only 55 cents of every education dollar was dedicated to classrooms.

It pays to look at just who is counting on your yes vote here:

“Prop 204 also earmarks hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars for programs and special interest groups that have nothing to do with public education. Instead of mandating that the money be tied to meaningful education reforms and rewarding excellent teachers, $100 million every year will line the pockets of road contractors, the same group that is subsidizing the initiative.

Don’t fall for the same old “It’s for the children” misinformation campaign – it is to line pockets, at your expense. It is to line pockets that have no actual interest in improving our education system or prospects for Arizona’s children.

If there is any chance you are still thinking of voting to pass 204, please continue your research. This is a bad statute meant fool you into “doing your part”, hoping you won’t realize how incompetent they are with the money we all already give them. Hoping you won’t realize how little of the money will go to the education system you hope to support.

  • A “yes” vote shall have the effect of permanently increasing the state sales tax by one cent per dollar, effective June 1, 2013, for the purpose of funding educational programs, public transportation infrastructure projects, and human services. It forbids reductions to current K-12 and university funding levels and forbids reductions to the current state sales tax base.
  • A “no” vote shall have the effect of not increasing the state sales tax by one cent per one dollar, beginning June 1, 2013.

Proposition 204 is a very strong NO



Comments

2 Responses to “AZ Proposition 204 (2012)”

  1. John Moore
    October 17th, 2012 @ 12:29 am

    Too many people reflexively vote for anything that has the word “education” in it. Never mind that our spending per pupil is one of the highest in the world, while our results are near the bottom of the developed world. Never mind that we spent half as much per pupil (inflation adjusted) in 1970 and got better results.

    Also, this trick of bundling several popular things together is an unfortunately effective trick. If “the children” don’t get you to pay for it, maybe “infrastructure” will do the trick.

    Thanks for posting about this..

  2. Vox AZ
    October 17th, 2012 @ 1:10 am

    Too true, John. We are a caring & generous lot which the unscrupulous types use against us.

    It pays to remember, however, how many things are done with the best of intentions – and the worst of outcomes. From the book “Evil Genes“:

    “Such government-mandated programs as busing and the projects, often generated by emote control related to genuinely altruistic considerations, have wasted billions of taxpayers’ dollars and led to a worsening of the very conditions they were meant to solve.”

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