Would you like ketchup with that ice cream?

A coaltion called "Quality Education and Jobs" is pushing a one-cent sales tax increase directed at new spending and the initial reception has been tepid indeed.

The Republic's Bob Robb pounced on the plan...

The initiative filed last week to enact a permanent one percent sale tax to replace the expiring temporary one won’t do anything to alleviate this general fund shortfall. In fact, for most state agencies, it will make it worse.

That shouldn't be too surprising considering that Robb is considered a conservative columnist.

But here's what the Arizona Daily Star said.

Their kitchen-sink approach and the jargon-laced insistence that the measure would create "incentives" for schools that are tied to "performance measures" reek of new bureaucracy and still more intrusions on local schools by the state.

Ouch.

When you draft an initiative, the goal is to make it broad enough to appeal to a large coalition.  The danger is that you can cobble together so many different interests that no one likes the final product.  This inititiative with its mix of education and freeway funding has followed the second path...it's like ketchup and ice cream--two great tastes that go badly together. 

Any plan that can draw the ire of Bob Robb and the Star Editorial Board is destined to collapse of its own weight. 

Here's predicting that it doesn't even make the ballot.

 

Comments

[Oranje Mike]

There's a few "interesting" petitions going around including an extra sin tax on alcohol.

[kdk]

I also think the state has gotten to the point where we are "sales taxed out". When the Republic even starts running articles about how the sales taxes in Phoenix and some of the other cities in AZ have the highest sales tax rate in the nation, there is going to be some pushback on both sides- conservatives against the tax, and even the liberal side on how it is a regressive tax for the poor.
Of course that won't stop numerous groups from trying to tax everything they can.

[RonJ]

kdk: That's the problem we have in this state--it's too easy to get very bad law on the ballot through the initiative process. The ease violates the very nature of a republic form of government. On top of that, we have Prop 105 to deal with, and slowly but surely we are degenerating into a true democracy, which history has shown, always leads to anarchy. We need to make it a bit more difficult to put issues on the ballot.

[Fred Ricardo]

Sports Money is important to a university like ASU, and people are voting their lack of confidence with their feet.. The last football game was less than half full. I watched the LSU and Michigan games and their stadiums were packed out. Attendance is down across all sports, and it is not because of the economy.

There was only 2,000 at the Men’s basketball game, 300 at the woman’s basketball game. You can’t pay the light bill with that.

Loss of attendance and stature of the school will cost more. You can only sell so many new tee-shirts.

It is time that the taxpayers who pay the excessive salary of the incompetent Lisa Love want to know why isn't she being replaced?

[Dewey]

The tuition is too high. Just saying.

[Its a Dry Heat]

Slightly off topic, but congrats to Greg on being the newest Regent!

Looks like our higher education system is on the road to recovery...

[westsider]

Not voting for this one.. in fact, rarely vote, "yes" in any ballot proposition - unless it is written backward so that "yes" means "no."

[UnTed]

Let me join "Heat" in saying congratulations on the Board of Regents!

Wouldn't a blog post explaining why there won't be any posts about ASU/UA be in order? After all I suspect your readership is considerably wider than that of the Phoenix Biz Journal.

[Falcon9]

The incentives in the initiative aren't school by school. They just establish a fundamental principle that, as the state education system improves, it gets more money. Simple concept.

[oxygen monitor]

i think it looks like our higher education system is on the road to recovery