How many politicians at the State Capitol can lay claim to the fact that they supported subsidies for Hollywood liberals, tax credits to combat global warming, and voted against more transparency on how are tax dollars are spent? In fact there is only one man who was able to achieve this dubious accomplishment—State Senator Bob Worsley. And because of that, he has been chosen to be this month’s Free Enterprise Club Crony of the Month.
Since being elected in 2012, Worsley has been a reliable supporter of crony capitalist legislation in the Senate. This was on display when he voted in favor of giving $900 Million dollars in tax credits to Hollywood Liberals to make movies, and when he spearheaded legislation to give away taxpayer money to manufacturers with the express purpose—as stated in the bill—of “reducing their carbon footprint by investing in renewable energy.” Picking winners and losers through our tax code has been a problem for decades, but Worsley has taken the cronyism to a whole new level.
In response to the large amounts of corporate welfare being doled out at the legislature, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club introduced HB 2586, legislation that would have required increased transparency on how our tax credit dollars are being spent. Since taxpayers are providing millions in ‘economic development’ tax credits to corporations, it only makes sense for everyone to know where the money is going.
Unfortunately, Sen. Worsley voted against the measure in committee, killing critical transparency reforms on the very credits that he supports. That is crony capitalism in a nutshell: support special tax breaks for your friends and oppose efforts to see where the money is really going. Sen. Worsley likes to declare that he is “pro-business”, now he can also say that he has been named the Crony of the Month.
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