Arizona rep. proposes one-cent sales tax
Money would go to teacher pay, restoring education cuts
PHOENIX — With a teacher pay plan eluding a deal and what he contends are unrealistic revenue estimates from Gov. Doug Ducey, a Prescott Republican lawmaker wants colleagues to consider a financial “bridge’’ to provide immediate dollars.
Rep. Noel Campbell says a three-year, one-cent sales tax, on top of the existing 0.6-cent levy dedicated to education, would provide about $1 billion a year, more than enough money not only for pay for teachers and support staff but also to help restore some of the cuts that have been made over the years in state aid to education. It also would give schools enough to finance full-day kindergarten if they want to offer those programs, funding that was cut during the Great Recession.
If nothing else, it also would provide some breathing room while education advocates come up with a more permanent solution that could go to voters on the 2020 ballot. Campbell said he’s not buying the governor’s prediction a growing economy will produce $670 million by the 2020-2021 school year to fund a 19 percent pay hike and restore $371 million over five years in money taken from schools.
“I do not support the governor’s pie-in-the-sky economic forecast,’’ he said.
But Campbell’s plan is getting no love from either side of the political aisle.
Minority Leader Rebecca Rios, D-Phoenix, dismissed it out of hand, saying sales taxes are the most regressive — low-income people generally spend more of their income paying it — and many residents are paying rates approaching 9 percent what with state and local levies. Then there’s the fact there is no assurance of long-term funding when the temporary levy expires.
“It could be a bridge to nowhere,’’ Rios said.
She and other Democrats prefer things like increasing taxes on the wealthiest Arizonans and revisiting the various corporate tax cuts that have been enacted.
That, however, drew derision from House Majority Leader John Allen, R-Scottsdale, who said that amounts to class warfare, creating “strife between the haves and the havenots.’’ Anyway, he said, taxing the rich is precisely the way to undermine economic recovery.
“I’ve never gotten a job from a poor person,’’ Allen said.
And even Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, dismisses the idea as unacceptable.
Campbell is undeterred, saying efforts to come up with a financially sustainable plan ahead of Thursday’s teacher strike have proven elusive.
One thing specifically missing from Campbell’s plan, though, is an actual guarantee of a pay hike for teachers — or anyone else.
Campbell isn’t the only one who questions Ducey’s financial predictions. House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, and Senate President Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, continue to meet with the governor in hopes of crafting something that can get the requisite votes and the governor’s signature.
What’s complicating matters is that all those votes are likely to have to come from Republicans, as Democrats want an identified source of dollars.
It’s not just questions about whether the governor’s predictions of higher revenues to pay for his plan are financially realistic. They want something sustainable — and paid for by the people and corporations most able to afford it.
“We’re looking at helping teachers that are being underpaid and yet you want to tax them more on all the essentials of daily living,’’ Rios said of the idea of higher sales taxes.
She wants to curb the ability of corporations to divert some of what they owe in income taxes to instead help pay for students to attend private and parochial schools. And Rios also thinks the state should review the tax rates paid by its highest income earners.
Thomas said educators are still weighing such an option, echoing Rios’ contention that a sales tax is unlikely to be their favorite choice.