Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to Arizona lawmakers urging them to reject a slew of tax hikes before the Arizona legislature this session. The full text of the letter is below:
To: Members of the Arizona Legislature
From: Americans for Tax Reform
Re: Reject Tax Hikes
Dear Representative,
On behalf of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and our supporters across Arizona, I urge you to reject House Bill 2702, which would impose taxes on internet sales; Senate Concurrent Resolution 1001 and its companion, House Concurrent Resolution 2024, which would refer a sales tax increase to voters; conformity legislation that fails to return the associated revenue back to taxpayers; and all other efforts to take more of your constituents’ hard-earned income
There is a wealth of social science demonstrating the economic harm that results from raising taxes. John Hood, chairman of the John Locke Foundation, a Raleigh, N.C.-based think tank, surveyed over 680 peer-reviewed academic journal articles on fiscal policy published over the past quarter century. According to Hood, “the preponderance of peer-reviewed research finds a negative relationship between state taxes and measures such as job creation and income growth.”
Tax Foundation economist William McBride reviewed academic literature going back three decades and found, “while there are a variety of methods and data sources, the results consistently point to significant negative effects of taxes on economic growth even after controlling for various other factors such as government spending, business cycle conditions and monetary policy.”
HB 2702, SCR 1001, HCR 2024, conformity legislation that fails to return the associated revenue back to taxpayers, and all other efforts to raise taxes would inflict a great deal of harm on the hardworking individual taxpayers, families, and employers in the Grand Canyon State.
In addition to being bad policy, tax increases are also bad politics. An ATR analysis of recent election results finds that voters in both red and blue states overwhelmingly rejected tax increases at the ballot. Election outcomes are the most accurate polls available, and they show that the public is opposed to tax increases.
ATR opposes HB 2702, SCR 1001, and HCR 2024 and urges lawmakers to vote NO on all of these bills. ATR will be educating Arizona taxpayers as to how lawmakers vote on these and other tax and regulatory matters. Please look to ATR as a resource on tax, budget, and other issues pending before you.
Sincerely,
Grover Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform