Excellent point from Amanda @ pandagon.net about taxes. The Cheney administration has been the smoking gun, the cookie-jar hand, and the absolute gold standard evidence that Republicans don't shun raising taxes, so long as you disguise it and they don't pay any themselves.
Bush has taken regressive taxes at the federal level to such heights that neocons find it hard to talk about without prematurely messing their underpants. It's no surprise that the states are following suit.
Arizona is no different.. we read reports about how shitty our schools are, crime is rising, "mass transit" in Phoenix means a Hummer limo filled with copulating Scottsdale seniors; and what do we do about it? Tune out. But you want local news covering an issue for more than 5 minutes? Damn liberal governor vetoed school voucher tax credits! Now our rich kids can't go to private school on someone else's dime. How dare she!
"So it's a two-fer in slime! A way to levy taxes without, you know, actually raising taxes and a way to put the screws to the poor all at once. Back door taxes are a way of life in Texas, especially those that put the screws to the poor. That's because we are in love with regressive taxation--we don't have an income tax, but we do have a 8.25% sales tax. So this is essentially just another regressive tax--you pay $.65 a bill no matter what your income is, and now that money isn't even going to help the poor but to help the Lege cover their asses for another year and avoid having to actually consider levying progressive taxes."
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