Gov. Jan Brewer said Monday if voters reject the sales-tax hike she championed for more than a year, it may reflect on her credibility.
“As a truth-teller, I would probably believe that they didn’t believe me,” the governor said Monday at a last-minute press conference to push Proposition 100. But Brewer, who has made the tax hike a central point of her administration, said there may be other factors at work.
“They weren’t given the right information in order to make good decisions,” the governor continued.
Brewer also acknowledged that her nearly one-woman campaign for temporary higher taxes may take a political toll on her. She is facing what could be a difficult Republican primary in less than four months, with her three principal foes all opposed to the idea of a one-cent hike in state sales taxes.
But she was a bit more circumspect when asked if she’s OK with the possibility that her support for the measure will mean she won’t be governor next year.
“That’s a horse of a different color,” Brewer responded.
“The bottom line is, I would love to be governor,” she continued.
“But this vote is not about Jan Brewer,” Brewer said. “This vote is about the people of Arizona and getting our state turned around and doing the right thing.”
Brewer has been at odds with many members of both her own party and the Democrats on the idea of hiking the state’s 5.6-percent levy by a penny for three years.
Many Republicans have argued that state spending should be slashed even further to match declining tax revenues rather than trying to raise about $1 billion a year for the next three years. And some Democrats have complained that the better solution would have been to eliminate many exemptions that now exist in what is subject to sales taxes, particularly services.
Brewer could not get anywhere near the necessary two-thirds margin of both the House and Senate to hike taxes directly. But she did manage to cobble together the votes of a majority of legislators to put the question before voters.
While the three other key Republicans running for governor want Proposition 100 defeated, Brewer has gained some political cover for the general election if she wins the primary: Presumptive Democratic nominee Terry Goddard came out in support of the temporary tax hike last week, saying it’s the only reasonable alternative available to protect education and other services.
Most polls have suggested that the campaign to hike taxes, fueled by more than $2.6 million in advertising, is likely to succeed. Brewer, however, was not taking anything for granted.
“We expect that race to be close,” she said.
Brewer has sought to shield herself somewhat from criticism, pointing out repeatedly that, until now, she never voted for a tax increase, either as a state legislator for 14 years or when she was a Maricopa County supervisor. The governor said she is making an exception this time because she believes state services will be crippled without the temporary revenues.
And she repeatedly points out that the levy will self-destruct in three years.
“By then, I believe our economic recovery will have been well on its way,” Brewer said.
RollerCam posted at 9:51 am on Wed, May 19, 2010.
I think a lot of people voted FOR prop 100 based on the wisdom shown by Jan Brewer on AB-1070.
Jan has a real winning streak going here. Keep it up!
"More freedom, less illegals"---I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT![smile]
snipes posted at 7:57 am on Tue, May 18, 2010.
"If Prop 100 fails, I failed".
Jan,
You're being too hard on yourself. Regardless of Prop 100's outcome, you will always be a failure in my book!
ranchingbound posted at 9:36 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
It seems that I read the same story day after day, and read very similar comments day after day. I agree that new taxes are NOT the answer. When has a "temporary" tax ever been temporary? Also maybe cutting spending to programs for ILLEGALS shoud be one of the first things to look at, with the salaries of some of these law makers so eager to pass on taxes to over-taxed families already. Take the over $400 million a year on healthcare alone for illegals and put that toward education and law enforcment! That would be a step in the right direction!! We need a business person to help Arizona, not these lame politicians that have yet to come up with a viable option to the state's budget crisis!
Rich posted at 9:03 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
Instead of a multi-million dollar con job to raise taxes, why don't the politicians just roll up their sleeves go to work and solve the problem? I mean if they can do the Federal government's job, funding all they need to fund with what they have should be a piece of cake.
The biggest problem with 1070 isn't racial profiling, it's that the government of the state is too lame to make it, or anything, work. Why don't we just insist they handle it, or find people who can through the ballot box. Prop 100 is propping up incompetence.
mango1 posted at 7:14 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
We need to cut wasteful spending. Washington DC spends more money per student than just about anyone else, however they still have one of the worst school systems with the worst testing scores in the United States. Why? They haven't learned to control wasteful spending. Brewer's fight to hike up taxes is endorsing this wasteful spending and rejecting it as a real problem. Instead of relying on middle-class tax paying citizens for propping her up, she should look inside her administration's spending and see that she doesn't need more money she needs to spend it more effectively.
Slabside posted at 6:41 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
Jan, I support you 110% on bill 1070 but I don't think you've done enough to cut spending. Taking the stimulus money was a big mistake and severely limited Arizona's capabilities to balance the budget.
Hotcopone posted at 6:27 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
Well, lets see. Do you think anyone in their right mind would admit to failing especially when she is in a tight race for Governor? The polls are telling her it's probably going to pass as she wouldn't ever come out to admitting to failure.
Accuracy posted at 5:41 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
The 2010 Arizona gubernatorial race became a little more official with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer and Democrat Attorney General Terry Goddard.
Both Brewer and Goddard have stood with teachers in support of the temporary (permanent) sales tax increase, Prop. 100.
If Prop. 100 fails . . they both will fail.
cjmnews posted at 3:43 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
I hope it fails. No need to increase taxes. Just cut all day kindergarten.
Then the budget would be balanced instead of putting the day care
costs of dual income families on all the tax payers.
RollerCam posted at 2:57 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
Increased taxation? Doesn't work now and never has in the past.
You simply cannot tax yourself into prosperity.
"Taxing an economy into prosperity is like standing in a bucket
and trying to lift yourself up."
KaptainRandom posted at 2:06 pm on Mon, May 17, 2010.
What if the money spent on this tax campaign and special election had been given directly to teachers?