We anticipated that Republican leaders wouldn't take too long to respond to the Democratic budget proposal that was unveiled today.
The gist: No way.
Here's the release:
Republicans reject the Democrats’ non-solution to Arizona’s colossal budget crisis. Their proposal consists of property tax increases, a massive expansion of items and services subject to sales taxation, and a proposed increase in local sales tax collections.
“The Democratic solution to Arizona’s budget crisis can be summed up in five words — ‘tax, tax, and tax again.’ Their solution will push Arizona from recession to depression and drive more families out of their homes and jobs,” Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said.
Democrats claim their new budget proposal avoids “high tax increases,” but in fact, they increase the qualifying tax rateto the maximum allowable by law and add a new tax on services. All of this, at a time when any tax increase will further damage Arizona’s economy and make life harder for already struggling families.
“Rather than addressing how spending got more than $3 billion dollars out of alignment and taking steps to reduce unsustainable government spending, Democrats are asking Arizonans to pay billions of dollars for their fiscal mismanagement,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Russell Pearce, R-Mesa.
Republicans continue to work on a solution to our fiscal crisis that addresses our structural deficit without raising taxes and further damaging Arizona’s already struggling economy.
