by admin | Aug 2, 2018 | Elections
Among the candidates running to become a member of the state legislature, Joanne Osborne may be the most dangerous one for taxpayers. Prior to being a candidate for the House in Legislative District 13, Osborne spent several years on the Goodyear City Council, consistently voting for higher taxes, fees and increased water rates even though the city was running a surplus.
In 2009, Joanne Osborne led the charge to permanently increase Goodyear’s sales tax rate from 2.0 to 2.5 percent (a 25% increase), giving the city one of the highest sales tax rates in the West Valley.* This was despite the fact that the city had a budget surplus at the time and money in their rainy-day fund. Osborne didn’t listen to taxpayers or affected businesses owners, but rather to government staff and City Manager Fischbach, who claimed that the tax increase was needed to “stay ahead of the game.”
Raising property taxes and license fees was also on Joanne Osborne’s radar. On three separate occasions (2010, 2011 and 2015), Osborne voted to increase property taxes.** She supported all of these tax increases knowing that the city had a budget surplus and didn’t need the money. She also backed a new $75 annual license fee for all businesses (Goodyear didn’t charge a license fee prior to 2009), an unnecessary charge that served no other purpose than to generate more cash for City Hall.
Osborne didn’t stop with higher sales and property tax rates. A few years later she was back pushing for more revenue for the City through higher water and wastewater rates. In 2015, Joanne Osborne voted to DOUBLE Goodyear’s water rates, from an average of $21.63 per month to $42.36.*** Wastewater rates went up by 12% as well to $56.33. These rapid increases were neither justified or warranted, especially after Osborne ushered in the extravagant sales and property tax increases a few years earlier.
Now Joanne Osborne wants to take her liberal tax and spend policies to the State Legislature. The voters of LD 13 would be wise to not let that happen.
*Surplus Has Leaders Questioning Tax Hike. https://www.newspapers.com/image/116979862/ Arizona Republic Jan 17, 2010
**Goodyear Council Records 2010,2011 and 2015
***Goodyear Rates to Double Over Five Years. https://www.rgj.com/story/news/local/southwest-valley/2015/11/02/goodyear-water-rates-double-over-5-years/74764030/ Arizona Republic Nov 2nd, 2015
Paid for the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Not Authorized by any Candidate or Candidate Committee.
by admin | Aug 2, 2018 | News and Updates, Tax
Since the proposition to double Arizona’s income tax was unveiled in early May, proponents of the measure emphatically promised voters that the only people affected by the tax increase was the “rich.”
That promise has already expired. Last month after filing 270,000 signatures with the Secretary of State, it was revealed that the “Invest in Ed” initiative would eliminate the inflation indexing of our income tax brackets and reset every tax bracket to 2014 levels. The primary purpose for indexing the income tax brackets for inflation was to shield low and middle-income taxpayers from the cost of living inflation tax that occurs over time.
The irreversible elimination of inflation indexing would result in everyone’s income taxes going up in Arizona – to the tune of $49 Million in the first year, a figure that will grow exponentially over time.
Even worse, there is no real opportunity to fix this problem. If this measure is passed, the proposition would be voter protected, meaning that it cannot be changed by the legislature. Even if a ¾ majority vote of the legislature agreed to bring back inflation indexing, it would still be illegal since lowering taxes would not further the intent of the proposal.
As more analysis is being done on this initiative to make Arizona the 5th highest income tax state in the country, the clearer it has become that the Washington DC Labor Unions that financed this measure cared little about making sure that all of their claims were even accurate.
But as the saying goes, “the devil is in the details,” and the proposed largest tax increase in our state’s history has a lot of hidden, unexpected, and negative consequences for the future of Arizona.
by admin | Jul 31, 2018 | Elections, News and Updates
Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club announced its final slate of candidate endorsements for the 2018 primary election cycle.
The endorsed candidates represent individuals who align with the organization’s principles and key policy goals. Club President Scot Mussi stated, “It is critical Arizona has leaders and policy makers who are able to articulate and stand up for free market principles and pro-growth policies. This slate of candidates has proven they can and will.”
U.S. Congress
Steve Smith CD 1
Andy Biggs CD 5
Debbie Lesko CD 8
Stephen Ferrara CD 9
State Legislative Races
Nancy Barto, LD 15 House
Sine Kerr, LD 13 Senate
John Allen, LD 15 House
David Livingston LD 22 Senate
Marlene Hinton, LD 25 House
Becky Nutt, LD 14 House
Farhana Shifa LD 18 House
Tony Rivero LD 21 House
by admin | Jul 27, 2018 | News and Updates, Tax
An East Valley small business owner has filed suit against the initiative that would give Arizona one of the highest small business tax rates in the United States after the proponents filed enough signatures to qualify for November’s ballot.
The suit challenges the proponent’s deceptive and misleading claims on the impact the initiative would have on Arizona taxpayers and small businesses. Specifically, the backers of the measure omitted the fact that the initiative would eliminate the annual indexing of Arizona’s income tax brackets for inflation, a radical change that will cost Arizona taxpayers millions.
The measure also hid the size of the tax increase from voters. Supporters of the income tax increase claimed that the initiative would increase tax rates by only 4.46 percent, when in fact small businesses would be hit with a tax hike ranging from 76.2% to 98.2%.
“Like most other small businesses, we pay our business taxes as individuals. If our tax liabilities were to double as a result of this initiative, I don’t know how we will be able to survive.” Said Jennifer Henricks, a small family business in the East Valley and parent of three children in Arizona’s public school system. “It’s unfortunate that whoever wrote this initiative decided to mislead the public about the size of the tax increase.”
Henricks is the Treasurer for the “AZ SMALL BUSINESSES AGAINST I-17-2018,” a grassroots committee formed to educate citizens on the harmful impacts the initiative would have on small businesses throughout Arizona.
Also hidden from voters is how the proposed tax income tax increase will hammer small businesses while corporations are left untouched by the tax hike. “It is completely unfair that we will see our tax rates nearly double while Fortune 500 companies will get a special rate under 5%. If the goal was to punish small business owners while rewarding big corporations, this tax increase is the way to do it.” Henricks added.
by admin | Jul 6, 2018 | Misc, News and Updates
For over two decades Arizona has led the nation in expanding popular school choice options for parents and students in our K-12 system. And the results speak for themselves—over 50% of parents in Arizona are opting to send their child to a school that is NOT their designated district public school!
These education decisions are made for countless reasons, but the important point is they are being made by parents–not lawmakers, district officials or bureaucrats. That is why Prop 305 is a winner for Arizona. This measure offers one more option for parents to consider when choosing a school for their children.
Under Prop 305, students would be able to obtain an Empowerment Scholarship Account that can be used to attend a school of their choice. The program is structured to ensure that funding is not reduced from district schools and can only be used for direct education expenses such as books, tutoring and tuition. Clear oversight exists in the program to guarantee the money is not misspent or used for non-educational purposes.
Prop 305 continues to build on Arizona’s school choice tradition by adding one more option for parents to consider. We encourage everyone to vote YES on 305.
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