The timing of Brewer's endorsement might be perplexing if there were any evidence that voters return early ballots the same day they arrive in the mail. To the contrary, there is evidence that the recurring problems with counting the Maricopa County vote come from the practice of voters to wait until Election Day to drop off their ballots at polling places.
The Brewer/Smith strategy seems to be based on the theory that the last endorsement voters hear is the one they will remember. Or let's just call it the Smith strategy: Brewer isn't that smart, but Smith is.
Prediction for this horse race: Win Smith; Place Ducey; Show Jones.
Smith is going to win because the East Valley Mormons always prevail in such races, but he needs to study his American history. The Federalist Papers were written long after the Revolutionary War and peace with Britain. The authors did not want their personalities and politics identified with their analysis of the Constitution -- anonymity was common back then.
One would hope that some journalist in Arizona would call out a future governor on this.
Eliminate the deductions for Medicare premiums, MediGap insurance, long-term care insurance, prescriptions, glasses, hearing aids, dental work. That should make the senior voters happy.
Eliminate the exemption for active-duty military pay, including National Guard and Reserves. That should make the pacifists happy.
Why the continuing coverup of the $5 bribe paid to everyone paying Arizona income taxes, to get them to check off another $5 in taxpayer money for Clean Elections? We can drink the "fines and penalties" Kool-Aid for only so many years.
Federal tax law allows a deduction for state sales tax (as an alternative to deducting state income tax).
IRS publishes tables (Schedule A instructions) showing the average amount of sales tax paid in each state, based on income and family size.
The IRS tables show that a family of 5 with income of more than $200,000 is assumed to pay about $2,050 in state sales tax, at the current rate of 5.6%. (An additional deduction is allowed for county and city sales tax, based on where the family shops. Sales tax paid on a motor vehicle, boat or airplane can be added to the table amount.)
So if this family with $200,000 income pays $2,050 when the rate is 5.6%, the additional tax for an increase of 1% would be $366. That tells us something about the people who expect a $400 increase.
Of course, there will always be those who will argue that the IRS is a Delaware corporation, whose full name is Islamic Religion Spies.
What's worse -- the idiots who don't realize that businesses, small and large, pay sales tax also, even on items consumed while selling goods and services to out-of-state customers? Or the journalists who can't spot the major flaw in their fuzzy math?
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The Brewer/Smith strategy seems to be based on the theory that the last endorsement voters hear is the one they will remember. Or let's just call it the Smith strategy: Brewer isn't that smart, but Smith is.
Prediction for this horse race: Win Smith; Place Ducey; Show Jones.
One would hope that some journalist in Arizona would call out a future governor on this.
Eliminate the exemption for active-duty military pay, including National Guard and Reserves. That should make the pacifists happy.
IRS publishes tables (Schedule A instructions) showing the average amount of sales tax paid in each state, based on income and family size.
The IRS tables show that a family of 5 with income of more than $200,000 is assumed to pay about $2,050 in state sales tax, at the current rate of 5.6%. (An additional deduction is allowed for county and city sales tax, based on where the family shops. Sales tax paid on a motor vehicle, boat or airplane can be added to the table amount.)
So if this family with $200,000 income pays $2,050 when the rate is 5.6%, the additional tax for an increase of 1% would be $366. That tells us something about the people who expect a $400 increase.
Of course, there will always be those who will argue that the IRS is a Delaware corporation, whose full name is Islamic Religion Spies.