Earlier this month, I mentioned how surprised I was that Governor Napolitano's policies are so regressive. Many of her programs benefit the wealthy and middle class and are paid for by the poor. The best example is her program to increase lottery revenue in order to borrow money to build new buildings at the universities. Who buys lottery tickets? Who is going to occupy those new buildings? 'nuff said.
I mentioned the TIME initiative as another example. The sales tax after all is the most regressive of the major types of taxes and much of TIME's benefits--environmental mitigation, open space and light rail--benefit the middle and upper classes disproportionately.
I marveled at the fact that the Democrats whom I served with in the 1990s would never have tolerated these shifts in wealth from the poor to the rich.
Apparently I'm not the only one who has been asking these questions. The District 27 House race features two incumbent Democrats--Minority leader Phil Lopes and Olivia Cajero Bedford--against former State Representative John Kromko.
The Star asked all three candidates how they would vote on the Governor's TIME initiative. Here was Kromko's response.
"It's a tragic thing that someone would fall for a scam like this. This is a deliberate attempt to shift the burden from the rich to the poor." Both Lopes and Cajero Bedford said they planned to vote for the initiative, which would raise the state's sales tax by 17.9 percent — from 5.6 to 6.6 cents on each dollar spent — for 30 years. Cajero Bedford said she would have preferred having the measure call for just a half-cent-per-dollar increase during the first 15 years.
Kromko's exactly right. His constituents will clearly pay the tax, but they will see very little benefit. Lopes and Cajero Bedford probably understand that they are selling their constituents short, but the Governor is a harsh mistress. There would be a high price to pay for opposing TIME on her watch.
We'll see how high a price John Kromko can exact.
Greg, do you know anything about Mr. Kromko?
(I'm just sayin'....)
Posted by: Matt S. | July 28, 2008 at 11:09 PM