CCA antes up $10K for AZ tax increase (i.e. lets fill prisons)

This comes via the guys at Private Corrections Working Group. Sign up at their site for their list-serve or you'll miss everything I don't get around to posting here.

The problem with the sales tax is that it shifts the burden of public sector services further onto the backs of the working poor and deeply impoverished - while the rich are simultaneously getting all sorts of new breaks. Sales tax hurts lower income families the most...

Why fix the budget on the backs of those who have already been most brutalized in this recession, who aren't even to blame in the first place for this crime?

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Businesses are divided over tax-hike proposal

by Betty Beard - Apr. 11, 2010 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic .

Would a higher sales tax help or hurt Arizona businesses?

Businesses and business groups are lining up on both sides of the proposed statewide 1-cent-per-dollar sales-tax increase. Some say it will hurt them by reducing consumer spending and hiking costs. Others say the tax is needed to support the overall state economy.

Businesses generally oppose tax increases on themselves or their customers, but a number of high-profile groups are supporting Proposition 100 in the May 18 election because they consider it necessary to improve the state's fiscal picture and prospects for economic development.

"You generally don't see business organizations supporting tax increases," said Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "But I think in this case, the near-term budget situation is deemed serious enough that some sort of temporary revenue enhancement was needed to prevent further (budget) cuts."

As the election approaches, both factions can point to reports that support their points of view on the proposed tax increase.

A study commissioned by the Goldwater Institute and conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute in Boston says passage of Proposition 100 would cost the state about 14,400 private-sector jobs because it would reduce the consumer spending that supports retail jobs.

A conflicting study by the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona says passage would save more than 13,000 jobs and preserve more than $442 million in federal matching funds because much of the estimated $918 million in increased revenues the state would receive would be spent on products and services provided by private companies.

Hamer said the Arizona chamber supports the tax as part of a comprehensive package that includes the state Jobs Recovery Act, which would give tax breaks to businesses in hopes of encouraging them to increase hiring.

The chamber and Greater Phoenix Leadership, a business coalition, have each contributed $50,000 to the Yes on 100 Committee, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

Arizona Public Service Co., Magellan Health Services, Scottsdale Healthcare and Tucson Medical Center have each given $25,000. Other companies making large contributions include Honeywell International PAC, which gave $15,000, and Sundt Companies Inc., Resolution Copper Mining and Corrections Corp. of America, each $10,000.

Also at least eight chambers of commerce have thrown in their support for the tax increase, including those representing Phoenix, Mesa and Tucson.

The Arizona Retailers Association, representing about 1,700 businesses, is remaining neutral.

Michelle Allen Ahlmer, executive director, said that while businesses are concerned a sales-tax increase of even a penny on the dollar would cause sales to dip, they are willing to let voters decide.

"There's no question that is a concern," she said. "But it looks a little self-serving for us to tell the public they can't make that decision."

Board member Jim Willinger, owner of Wide World of Maps Inc., strongly opposes the sales tax. He fears it will hurt businesses by reducing sales and driving up costs for things such as office supplies.

"I buy all the things that have sales taxes, too," he said.

The National Federation of Independent Business strongly opposes the tax hike. The group has about 7,500 members in Arizona.

Farrell Quinlan, Arizona state director, contends that when times are tough, governments have to economize like everyone else.

"A lot of businesses have had to lay off workers, cut back hours and change their benefit plans, not in some greedy attempt to wring out more profits but just to survive," he said.

The tax increase would have a large effect on vehicle purchases. It would add $260 to the average price of a new vehicle, $26,000.

Don Luke, owner of Bill Luke's Chrysler Jeep and Dodge in Phoenix, said most car and truck buyers, though, don't pay much attention to taxes, licenses and other fees. They tend to focus on the base price of the vehicle.

"I don't think the sales-tax increase would discourage car buying," Luke said. "We are such a large-ticket item that 1 percent is not going to affect it that way."

Nevertheless, he said of the proposed tax hike, "I am really not horribly in love with it. I simply have never seen a temporary tax that did not become permanent, and this state and this city has always been capable of spending everything they collect."

Arizona Republican Tax Shift Shuffle

(From Friday, Feb 12 - just moved this up so it greets everyone Monday morning, instead of the nonsense from Pearce. It may bounce around a few more times. Anyway, I expect to see you all at the legislature. Don't let them vote in those tax cuts for the rich without lodging your protests...) 

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The real story here is not just the sales tax hike everyone is talking about (which disproportionately hits the poor, working and middle classes) - it's the tax cuts for business and the rich that are to follow. 

I think the media obscures the stark reality - here's the vision our GOP state leadership has for us:

They want to make higher education less affordable for more middle and working class Arizona families at a time when we need it the most; 

Instead of reducing all the social, economic, and human costs of crime and punishment, they plan on filling at least 5,000 more prison beds in the state in the next couple of years (which towns are competing with each other to host, in order to have such wonderful jobs without college degrees); 

They're going to slash vital resources to people (again) living on the edge (inevitably pushing some into $22,000+/year room and board - at our grandkids' expense - at the AZ Department of Corrections); and 


They'll keep screwing the teachers over (for resisting them to begin with) - making those "difficult choices" to save the state from this "budget crisis" (caused by the greed of the wealthy few - like them - not by the poverty or crimes of the many. Remember?). 

In the process, with a sleight of hand, they'll shift the tax burden even further off of those profiting from our labor or incarceration - encouraging more of their kind to move here on our dime, requiring more of us to supply them with low-wage labor for their service sector. The only belts the Governor and Legislature have been tightening are the ones around our necks. Their own are stuffed with money - and guns. Let's just ask them to "walk all over us, please".


Is Arizona really going to go for this? Are the cops and firemen still on board with all that? You guys are union - aren't you? Doesn't that mean anything here? Most people in this state have surrendered, it seems. You're catching on to what's really happening, aren't you?

I know they didn't get to every last one of you.


You should at least wonder what's in store for your kids here, if this is really still the direction we're going. I frankly think the folks following Pearce's wagon train are going to run off a cliff before November - first they have to shake good old Sheriff Joe loose, though. That still gives them a lot of time to do some damage, so I think we need to intensify resistance now, rather than later. This budget deal they made is going to get signed into law this week - next Monday at the latest. 

I think this strategy the Republicans are employing across the country - with their budget "crises" and hysteria about health care reform driving us all into ruin -  is shock and awe, or disaster capitalism - something like that. Someone's coined the term to describe it already. They're trying to ram as much garbage down our throats at once while we're still stunned from the last round of cuts and anti-working class legislation. They dragged us off to war, raided all the cupboards and hoarded all the goods, then blamed Medicaid recipients and people who wanted All-day K for being the cause of revenue shortfalls (see how that sounds compared to framing it as a "budget deficit"? Defining the problem and prescribing a solution is pretty tied up in the language we use, which the media plays a big part of manipulating, and we so seldom cue into). 

Now they're trying to take their tax cuts out of our elderly and disabled (though we oddly submit to paying for them to live and die in prison); they're all like bullies on the playground. With guns. The AEA shouldn't be deluded into thinking that they've already been hit hard enough - they're going to make sure you're finished off by the end of this legislative session, which you will be if you don't get back on your feet and resist this tax burden shift - this is all landing right on you and your kids.


Good for Senator Davis. Not a single Democrat should support this tax shift. Not a single one - I'm sure they understand what it's all about - a few have tried to articulate it. But enough will vote for it to make up for the libertarian resisters, because they've already made their deals, selling out one set of constituents for another - trying to do the most for the common good. And they'll answer us by wringing their hands about being powerless against the Right all the while. 

We'll always be outgunned and too poor, but it doesn't mean we should give up the fight. Progress may take generations to see, but depends on our persistence and commitment. This IS The Revolution. It's happening here and now, and is on-going, as the global struggle for justice and liberation have always been. 


As for our resources these days - all this blogging is pretty much free - free for me to do, and for the public to use. That's the awesome thing about all these new Prison Watches going up around the country (sorry, I haven't kept up my links, but will update them soon with new states). Me and my friends aren't an organization or registered charity, and don't have to deal with donations or anything; we count up our change every couple of months, basically. The biggest expenses I have with my three blogs are the P.O. box, postage to prisoners, and an occasional ink cartridge and paper. I'd be on-line and printing stuff anyway, so it's hardly anything out of my pocket - I could probably do this with ten or fifteen dollars a  month. 

And it's not all on me - when I get sick I can take time off. Anyone else can help author and edit the sites themselves - from anywhere in the world, really - as long as they can access a computer and the internet. It takes time and research - and being on good list-serves - but we don't have to sit around and wait for someone else (someone with "authority") to tell us they're fixing the problem, after who-knows-how-many-more people have died...

This is the easiest program to learn. Just remember if you take it on, once it's out there, it's almost impossible to shake loose from being Googled with something you said or wrote; you don't want to cringe when you come across it again. I do sometimes. It's also evidence that will undoubtedly be used against you, if you really cause a fuss, so be sure that what you write is something you're willing to answer for. Freedom of Speech only goes as far as they let it. It may cost you a lot.

Anyway, from what I've seen, it's about to get worse before it gets better for prisoners and outlaws, so if you're out there thinking that you have some state prisons of your own to watch - or maybe you want to see what's happening with elderly prisoners, or those across the country seeking compassionate release or hospice care - drop any of us prison watchers (here or at the Prison Reform Community Center) a line. I'm still buried in both email and snail mail right now, but be patient - I'm working my way through. I'll be back up to speed in a couple of weeks.

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Ariz. Senate Backs Vote On Sales Tax Hike

KPHO.com
POSTED: 5:18 pm MST February 2, 2010
(Excerpt from AP Story)

..."The public are not getting the message that we are going to (both) raise their taxes and cut services," said Sen. Debbie McCune Davis, a Phoenix Democrat who voted against the referral.

The legislation's fate is in question in the House, where majority Republicans and minority Democrats can't even agree on what process to use for their budget work.House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said many GOP representatives are reluctant to vote for the sales-tax referral before the Senate votes on a House-passed tax and jobs bill. It would provide immediate business tax breaks for creating new jobs and future general tax cuts. Meanwhile, many House Democrats say the sales-tax referral wouldn't do enough to protect services and that its passage may only serve to provide money for Republican-pushed tax cuts.

According to Secretary of State Ken Bennett, the Legislature has until Feb. 16 to authorize the proposed May 19 special election.Because lawmakers have been debating Brewer's sales tax proposal for nearly a year, the current budget already includes $8 million to pay for holding the election. Legislators first considered a sales-tax referral last summer, falling just short of sending the issue first raised by Brewer last March to a fall special election ballot. Minority Democrats balked at that version because it would have been accompanied by long-term tax cuts sought by majority Republicans. Democrats later balked at a subsequent Republican push to also ask voters to relax voter-approved spending mandates...."

AZ Legs: Robin Hood Was Right.

Thursday's (02/04) House Study Committee on Sentencing is cancelled (UFN). 

The legislature is still in special session and expects to pass more bad ideas, like the sales tax special ballot initiative. 

Why do we let these people convince us that there are no other options than the ones they make visible? When will we finally get up the nerve to tax the rich around here? The legislature's next brilliant step is going to be to give them even more tax cuts, all the while tightening our belts.. 

Haven't we been screwed enough this way before?

Douglas State Prison; Privatization; Budget Updates

Looks like pretty thorough coverage from the Douglas Dispatch: 
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Little, no chance prison closing, says area legislators
By Larry Blaskey
Douglas Dispatch

There is little to no chance that the Douglas State Prison is going to close.

That was the message echoed by all three District 25 state legislators during a town hall meeting sponsored by the City of Douglas Monday night.

Attending were Rep David Stevens and Patricia Fleming and Sen. Manny Alvarez.

More than 75 attended the one-and-a-half hour meeting. Many in attendance were from the local prison.

Along with the prison, the still unapproved budget dominated much of the discussion.

At the end of the meeting, all three legislators agreed that there would be almost no way the prison would close this year, and Stevens doesn’t expect it to close in the near future.

Douglas State Prison

 “I don’t foresee any change occurring over the next few years,” Alvarez said.

“I don’t think early release will occur, it would take legislative action”

 Stevens agreed with Alvarez’ assessment and went a bit further.

“I don’t see us ever getting to the point of privatization of the prison system, especially once all the details come out.”

“It will be much cheaper for the state to remain in the prison business rather than having a private company run the facilities,” Alvarez added.

The Douglas prison contributes $27 million in payroll annually in addition to providing 300 inmates that work for the city, county and other entities.  If the city had to pay minimum wage for all of the prison work it receives, it would cost the city an additional $310,000 annually.

State Budget

“This is the worst situation I have seen in my seven years at the Legislature,” Alvarez said.
“It is sad to see what is taking place. The rural communities are those getting hurt the worst.”

Of the 30 legislative districts, only seven are rural (not affiliated with Pima or Maricopa counties).

During her opening presentation, Fleming presented Budgeting 101 for the audience, a budgeting basics program to show where the legislature is currently at in the 2009-10 budget.

“The current deficit is $1.5 billion, and the reason behind the deficit include the National recession, increased demands on state services, Voter Required/Protected Funding and tax cuts.

“Challenges for the next session include the existing $1.5 billion deficit, possibility of additional cuts, a “No New Tax Pledge” from the Democratic party and questions concerning a possible 1 cent sales tax.”

The state budget is affecting Douglas and Cochise County in several areas:

• Revenue sharing funding from the state for the city will drop from $2.6 million in 2009, to $2.2 million in 2010 and finally to $1.7 million in 2011. That is a drop of more than a third in revenue in just two years.


• Special Session cuts: $144 million in soft capital, $155 million from DES. The soft capital will result in a $588,000 cut for the Douglas Unified School District.

• 15 percent cuts in all areas could impact the Douglas State Prison, and force Cochise Collee to increase its tuition to an additional $10 per credit hour.

David Stevens said a viable plan was presented at the begging of the session but was voted down by Democrats.

“The budget plan we presented in August would have balanced the budget without the most recent set of cuts,” Stevens said.

The budget plan included the

• Three-year 1 cent sales tax increase.
• Property tax freeze
• Three years state spending freeze.

“The plan would have opened the state up to attracting new business. When you compare our corporate tax structure it would have moved us from the 22 most competitive to seventh.

 “We need to grow the state and the economic engine. We cannot continue just to cut. We need to find additional ways to general revenue,” Stevens said.

The state is having a problem even collecting the taxes that is due to it. Cuts in personnel in the Revenue Department has even made it more difficult to collect past due taxes.

1-cent sale tax

Some of the budget discussion during the meeting centered around the proposed 1 cent sales tax which would be limited to three years.

If approved, the tax would have created $600 million in new revenue each year, or about 40 percent of the current deficit.

“I understand that one cent doesn’t sound like much. The problem I had was the referral for the people to decide the issue. We were elected to make those types of decisions. I really had a problem with taking the vote away from the legislature. They need to retain their votes,” Fleming said.

Not a single Democrat voted for the sales tax increase.

What to do

If there are changes citizens want to be made, write, email, call those in power at the state level, all three legislators urged.

A complete listing of state leaders incommoding committee chairman can be found at www.azleg.gov.

“It is important to follow through because a lot of the legislators don’t even know where Douglas is. Your calls and letters will help them find out and know how important your issues are,” said Alvarez.