Daniel Scarpinato of the morning daily tells us that business leaders who visited the Capitol yesterday had one big request for state lawmakers: Cut the state property tax permanently.
The tax, which was suspended for three years as part of a bad budget deal cut between Gov. Janet Napolitano and Republican lawmakers, is set to return this year. You might think, given that the state is facing a shortfall of somewhere around $3 billion (if you count this year and the upcoming fiscal year), that the state could use another $250 million, which is what the tax would bring in.
But the GOP majority is convinced that by cutting the tax (which, by the way, costs the average homeowner less than $10 a month), they’ll stimulate the economy. Sure. And that’s why, after suspending the property tax and cutting income taxes by $500 million three years ago, the economy is performing so well. Oh, wait–we’re on the verge of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Is it possible that cutting taxes doesn’t automatically spur the economy? Is it possible that raising taxes–strategically–can help the economy? It seems like the tax increases of the early 1990s put the United States on the path to a booming economy that left the federal government with a surplus (which was, of course, squandered by the Bush tax cuts, but I digress.)
At any rate, all the arguments in the world won’t make a difference with this legislature. Tax cuts are an article of faith with them.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2009.
That’s… not going to work. Remind me again if AZ has anything like TIm Eyman’s turbulent initiative in Washington state restricting cities from raising property taxes by more than 1 percent per annum.
It’s a total blast to watch Maricopaland try to work around Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1 of your USA Constitution (it sez Maricopaland may not print money, thank you founding fathers!!! Really.)
IPH: Property taxes remain much too complicated for the average taxpayer to understand, but we don’t have a limit like that. We do have some limits on how much values can increase, sorta.