A special interest group formed by several Republicans last year has dumped $500,000 into a campaign to kill Proposition 204.
Records filed with the Secretary of State's Office show the opposition campaign got money last month from Americans for Responsible Leadership. The money came in just eight business days after the No New Taxes campaign began fundraising.
The group is listed in its incorporation papers as a non-profit educational organization.
Reports show that the same group also put $100,000 into the effort to kill Proposition 121 to create an open primary system.
State Treasurer Doug Ducey, who is chairing the anti-204 campaign, said he did not know where the group, led by several Arizonans active in the Republican Party, got its money. But he said it does not matter.
"To put up over $500,000 (in donations) shows how much energy there is against the $1 billion permanent sales tax increase,'' he said. "And we're just getting started.''
What brings the donations up over $500,000 are a pair of $25,000 contributions, one from Americans for Limited Government and the other from John Dawson, owner of the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. He said his hotel, which caters to conventions and meetings, is losing business to other cities because the higher tax has to be passed on to the groups.
Dawson is no stranger to the issue: He also gave money to try to defeat -- unsuccessfully -- the 2010 ballot measure which first imposed the temporary one-cent hike in the state sales tax.
The organization's incorporation papers include Eric Wnuck, an unsuccessful candidate for Congress.
It also includes Robert Graham, owner of a Scottsdale wealth management firm who just announced Wednesday he plans to run as chair of the Arizona Republican Party.
And Ducey said the board also includes former House Speaker Kirk Adams who, like Wnuck, made a failed bid for Congress.
Wnuck promised to return a call but did not; messages to Adams and Graham were not returned.
Ducey said he got the money by talking to the board and making his pitch against the ballot measure.
If approved, Proposition 204 would create a permanent one-cent surcharge on the state sales tax. But it is designed to take effect -- if approved -- only after the current levy expires on May 31, meaning the rate would remain at 6.6 percent.
Ducey said that would give Arizona permanently the second highest sales tax rate in the country, second only to Tennessee.
Little is known about the group or where it gets its money.
A report with the Secretary of State's Office shows the organization got involved in only one other race this year: It spent $11,500 for mailings to help current House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, survive a three-way GOP primary for the two House seats in his district.
That report lists no source of contributions, for either the Tobin race or this one.
Asked whether he knows the source of the committee's cash, Ducey responded, "from hardworking taxpayers who don't want to see their taxes raised by a scheme to fund bigger bureaucracy and government unions and pay back special interests who wrote Proposition 204.''
Pressed further, Ducey said he and others opposed to the initiative just make their pitch to various groups and hope they will contribute.
"That's how this campaign game works,'' he said. "You have to communicate with the voters.''
One of the arguments against the initiative -- other than the tax rate -- has been that it locks in how the approximately $1 billion a year to be raised initially would be divided up. While the majority goes to K-12 schools, there also is guaranteed funding for health insurance for the children of the working poor, university budgets and road construction.
Hellraiser posted at 7:49 am on Thu, Sep 20, 2012.
Another bias reporting job. We have enough taxes in this state and don't need this to continue. Something else to keep visitors away from this state.
Deddzone posted at 10:15 am on Thu, Sep 20, 2012.
It seems the GOP of AZ is not in-tune with the voters. They spend a lot of money, but do very little to address the real concerns---jobs, jobs and jobs!
devils66 posted at 12:39 pm on Thu, Sep 20, 2012.
We were already convinced and mis led to vote for that 1/2 cent or what ever it was sales tax and what did it do NOTHING. They still are letting teachers go and they still don't give the teachers what they need. I won't support any more tax increases.
Deddzone posted at 12:40 pm on Thu, Sep 20, 2012.
Voters approved a increase prior to help schools. Arizona is 47 or 48th in education. That's nothing to brag about...
OldMan posted at 2:03 pm on Thu, Sep 20, 2012.
2 questions:
1) Although it is subject to several variables, but what would the dollar amount be per month, that the 1 cent tax would create, for an Arizona family? Anyway to determine that? Probably not, so we do not know how much families/individuals would have to pay per month. (just the term tax strikes fear)
2) It doesn't matter where the donations came from??????
Mike McClellan posted at 4:07 pm on Thu, Sep 20, 2012.
A reality is this:
Our state agreed to adopt the Common Core Standards;
Those Standards push kids at a higher level and earlier on;
These guys who want to defeat the one-cent sales tax need to answer this question:
With more expected of kids and teachers, how will the state make up the almost $1 billion the sales tax currently generates?
And answer this question:
With the loss of revenue lost by defeating the proposition, how will poorer districts afford the kind of kindergarten programs necessary to keep pace with the standards of the Common Core?
That is, we want our kids to do better, achieve more, but if the poor districts take a hit from the revenue loss, how will those district provide all-day K, something necessary to keep those kids near the level of achievement of their wealthier peers?
wdgnas posted at 5:46 am on Fri, Sep 21, 2012.
oldman: the answer is simple. pick any number and reverse engineer until you get the number you want. or, apply the same formula used for estimating the benefit of building a sports team an arena or stadium. either way lie thru your teeth.
Tookie88 posted at 11:18 pm on Fri, Sep 21, 2012.
@deddzone....we are bottom of the list for per student funding in this country...not for student achievement. We actually score more in the middle which is pretty good considering how Arizona does not value education.
Teachers have been asked to do more with less each year in this state. More and more teachers have to spend their own money for class supplies because budgets have been cut so much! Just think what teachers can do if they were valued and given the materials neede to help make your child learn.
Arizona Willie posted at 7:57 am on Sat, Sep 22, 2012.
Chicage average teacher salary approx $75 K.
Arizona average teacher salary approx $35 K.
And people wonder why we are near the bottom of national rankings.
There probably is a good argument for consolidating school districts and eliminating a lot of duplicated management jobs.
But no reason to accuse teachers of being overpaid.
No wonder no one but child molesters seems to take teaching jobs in Arizona.
Every other week, it seems, we have another story breaking of some teacher / coach having improper relationships with students.