by Scot Mussi | Mar 29, 2010 | News and Updates, Uncategorized
Hospital Association Pushes 22 Percent Tax Hike on Small Businesses and Families
Hospitals add income tax hikes to their support of sales tax increase
Today, the Free Enterprise Club blasted the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association for pushing for a massive income tax on Arizona families and businesses.
As many of you are aware, the Club was the lead sponsor of an across-the-board income tax cut in 2006, which brought the top personal income tax rate down to 4.54 percent. The Hospital Association wants to raise that rate to 5.54 (or 22%).
The Hospital Association’s support of an income tax increase comes on the heels of their support of Prop. 100, a billion dollar sales tax increase, and seems to replace their effort to tax soda, liquor, and tobacco.
Yes, it’s hard to keep track of all the things John Rivers wants to tax. Rivers is the president of AzHHA.
According to the East Valley Tribune, Rivers said that the proposed income tax increase would affect “just a handful of Arizonans.”
Right. Mr. Rivers needs to do a little homework. According to NFIB, approximately 75 percent of small businesses pay their taxes under individual income tax system. Businesses that file under the personal income tax system include: sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLC), and Subchapter S Corporations.
What a concept. Jobs keep people off Medicaid, yet the Hospital Association wants to tax jobs so people can remain on Medicaid.
by Scot Mussi | Mar 15, 2010 | News and Updates, Uncategorized
Quite the web ad against tax and spend Senator Barbara Boxer.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJKlc77K5dg&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
by Scot Mussi | Mar 11, 2010 | News and Updates, Uncategorized
From the Wall Street Journal Political Diary
VE Day – Victory Over Earmarks
Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona has crusaded against earmark abuses ever since he came to Congress in 2001. Today he can take satisfaction as the GOP conference prepares to approve a moratorium on members directing federal dollars to favored interests in their home districts. The move comes the same week that House Democrats announced a ban the granting of earmarks for profit-making entities that often return the favor by making campaign contributions to members.
“It’s a major step forward,” Rep. Flake told me yesterday. While the earmark process consumes only 1% of the federal budget, it was often used as a bargaining chip to reward members to support large increases in federal spending. “It was a classic case of ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch my much bigger back,'” he said.
Mr. Flake also plans to follow up his success today by forcing a vote demanding that the House Ethics Committee prove it did real work to uncover abuses in an earmark scandal involving the PMA Group, a lobbying firm that bestowed numerous campaign contributions on members who steered earmarks in the direction of its clients. The Ethics Committee exonerated seven members of Congress over their involvement with PMA despite evidence that key players in the scandal, including the late Rep. Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania, were never interviewed by it.
–John Fund
by Scot Mussi | Mar 8, 2010 | News and Updates, Uncategorized
Scottsdale and Tempe are asking voters to approve 16% bed tax rate hikes in order to boost tourism. Seriously.
Here’s a quote from the Yes on 200 (Scottsdale) website: “The additional bed-tax revenue generated from Proposition 200 will lead to more marketing of Scottsdale to tourists and meeting planners. More tourists means more visitor expenditures in Scottsdale businesses, more tourism-related jobs in Scottsdale and additional revenue coming into the city coffers, which lowers the tax burden on residents.”
Killing their argument today is a front page story in the Arizona Republic, which outlines that smoking deals currently being offered by resorts has increased occupancy rates. Now we’re talking.
Yes, tourists actually found Scottsdale resorts without more government-funded marketing. Yes, lower prices (not higher) will increase traffic, interest, and activity. It works everywhere else in the world.
There is absolutely no reason to jack up bed taxes now and send that money to the Scottsdale Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to . . . market Scottsdale. If you don’t believe me, just read the paper.
** Note: For some reason the Republic’s editorial board urged support of the new tax.
by Scot Mussi | Jan 26, 2010 | News and Updates, Uncategorized
Pot and Kettle to Do Battle in Arizona
John McCain has finally drawn a challenger in the Republican primary that will decide if he gets a fifth term in the U.S. Senate. Mr. McCain is likely untouchable in a general election, but the smaller GOP electorate is challenging. A Rasmussen Reports survey last year found that 61% of core GOP voters thought he was “out of touch” and only a third believed he was doing a good job representing conservative values. Since then, his high-profile opposition to ObamaCare and a raft of TV ads has likely helped boost his numbers.
Nonetheless, former Congressman J.D. Hayworth is convinced his state’s senior senator is vulnerable. Mr. Hayworth served 12 years in Congress until he was ousted in the 2006 Democratic landslide, in part because he was also seen as “out of touch” with constituents. He has since made a career as a conservative talk show host. He starts as an underdog — the same Rasmussen survey that spelled trouble for Mr. McCain also gives the senator a 53% to 31% margin over the feisty Mr. Hayworth.
But Mr. Hayworth is confident he can catch up by portraying the 2008 GOP presidential nominee as someone who has “enabled” Barack Obama’s agenda on economic and foreign policy.
“I’m giving Arizona Republicans a clear choice between a consistent, common-sense conservative . . . or someone who describes himself as a maverick, but is a moderate,” he told the Washington Times yesterday. He pointed to Mr. McCain’s votes in favor of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout and his opposition to interrogation techniques used on terrorist detainees. No doubt Mr. Hayworth will also focus on Mr. McCain’s immigration policies, including his 2005 bill that combined amnesty with a new guest worker program.
But Mr. McCain will be showcasing his own grass-roots bona fides by bringing in former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, his 2008 running mate, to campaign for him on March 26. Massachusetts Sen.-elect Scott Brown is also scheduled for a campaign appearance. And Mr. McCain also has a lot of ammunition to use against Mr. Hayworth.
The outspoken former congressman may have talked a good game when he was in the House. But when it came to federal spending he — more than Mr. McCain — was an “enabler” of questionable budget items. It was Mr. Hayworth, not Mr. McCain, who voted for a 2003 prescription drug benefit that added enormously to the nation’s future liabilities. It was Mr. Hayworth who voted for bloated farm and highway bills, while Mr. McCain opposed them. It was Mr. Hayworth who was a consistent seeker and supporter of pork-barrel Congressional earmarks. Mr. McCain, on the other hand, never requested earmarks in appropriations bills and often led a crusade against those he felt were improperly slipped into bills.
All of this will make for a lively Republican primary and national political reporters can be counted on to portray the race as a moderate veteran against a “Tea Party” upstart. But the reality is a lot more complicated. Let’s just say either man would have trouble convincing Barry Goldwater, Arizona’s nonpareil conservative, that he was Goldwater’s true heir.
Recent Comments