by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jul 18, 2021 | Opinion
By the Free Enterprise Club |
Some ideas need to be put to sleep. Maybe someone should tell that to the Arizona Corporation Commission.
About a year ago, the commission quietly released its plan to impose California-style energy mandates in our state. While following in California’s footsteps for just about anything seems like a bad idea, that certainly rings true when it comes to energy.
After all, last August, not too long after the Arizona Corporation Commission released its plan, California instituted its first intentional rolling blackouts since 2001. And the state’s residents were also asked to conserve electricity during a significant heatwave last summer.
But this year, it may be even worse. While electricity prices explode across California, more blackouts are almost guaranteed to happen again this summer. And Arizona could very well be affected…
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by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jul 11, 2021 | Opinion
By the Free Enterprise Club |
Every American should be free to support nonprofit organizations they believe in without being harassed or intimidated. You would think this is obvious. But leave it to California’s former Attorney General, Kamala Harris, to trample on that freedom.
Back in 2010, Harris began ordering nonprofits that fundraise in the State of California to disclose the information of their major donors. Of course, the California government had no real need for this information. And, despite the fact that the state was required to keep donor names private, they were regularly leaked to the public.
You may even remember the name of Brendan Eich. In 2014, Eich, who created JavaScript, became CEO of Mozilla. But soon after, he was forced to step down from his position amid a flurry of backlash when it was made public that he donated money in support of California’s Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that would define marriage as between one man and one woman.
The harassment didn’t stop with Eich. Organizations like Thomas More Law Center and Americans for Prosperity Foundation faced similar intimidation. In fact, Thomas More Law Center donors, employees, and clients even faced death threats, hate mail, and an assassination plot from those who oppose them.
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by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jul 7, 2021 | Opinion
By the Free Enterprise Club |
After raking in cash from taxpayers amounting to a staggering $4 billion surplus, Governor Ducey and Republican legislators have delivered big with a historic tax cut this year. At full implementation, the cuts enshrined in SB1827, SB1828, and SB1783 will total $1.8 billion, and this couldn’t have come at a better time.
While Arizona families and small businesses were struggling during covid shutdowns and trying to make ends meet, the tax collector was still busy collecting. And as all Arizonans were already being overtaxed, on the narrowest margin, Proposition 208 was passed threatening a 77% tax hike on many Arizonans and small businesses. The tax cuts in this year’s budget completely neutralize that threat.
The tax cut package will result in a tax cut for all Arizona taxpayers. At full implementation, the current four rates of 2.59%, 3.34%, 4.17%, and 4.5% (with a fifth Prop 208 rate of 8%) will be collapsed into one single rate of 2.5%.
But since Proposition 208 is voter protected, income above $250,000 ($500,000 for married filing jointly) would still be hit with the 3.5% “surcharge,” resulting in a top rate of 6%, leaving Arizona still uncompetitive. The tax cut package takes care of this, too, by capping the top rate any taxpayer will shoulder at 4.5%, or the current top marginal rate.
Finally, holding the Red4Ed Prop 208 proponents to the promise that their tax hike “legally” could not affect small businesses, SB1783 will create an optional alternative small business tax which will have a rate beginning at 3.5% this year, ratcheting down to match the new single individual income rate of 2.5%. This means that small businesses can bifurcate their business income from their personal income, filing it under the alternative small business tax and paying a rate of 2.5% instead of the capped 4.5% rate. To reiterate, this is small business income that by Prop 208 advocates own words was never supposed to be subject to the surcharge. SB1783 codifies that intent…
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by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jul 2, 2021 | Opinion
By the Free Enterprise Club |
They’re still trying to scare us. Apparently, some people in our country just don’t like seeing businesses reopen, people unmasked, and a return to normalcy. So, as the threat to COVID largely dwindles, it should come as no surprise that the media is now pushing a new threat: the Delta variant.
Of course, the messaging is predictable:
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- More contagious (CNN)
- Exploded in the UK (CNBC)
- Worst and scariest variant yet (MSNBC)
It will be interesting to see how state and local governments across the country respond to this so-called “latest threat.” As you’ll recall, it didn’t go so well the first time around with most seizing the opportunity to abuse emergency powers, even here in Arizona. And although Arizona’s COVID response puts it ahead of most other states in the country, there’s still work to be done.
Thankfully, our state lawmakers haven’t ignored the problem. And with various provisions in a series of Budget Reconciliation Bills, they have taken important steps to protect Arizona from more COVID mandates and government overreach.
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by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jun 11, 2021 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
If you’ve tried to book a room at the Suites on Scottsdale (formerly known as Homewood Suites) since May 24, you’ve probably been left frustrated. All the rooms are currently listed as “Not Available” through the rest of the year.
A normal person would likely assume that this is because the hotel is going out of business. But that’s not the case. Instead, the hotel was secretly converted into a makeshift migrant shelter by the Biden administration almost overnight.
In this recent shady move, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid “Family Endeavors” $86.9 million in a no-bid contract through September 30 to house more than 1,200 migrants at a time in Arizona and Texas. (And in case you’re keeping track, the group also received a second no-bid contract from the Biden administration for $530 million in April.)
That comes out to $352 per bed per day of your hard-earned tax dollars.
While hotel rooms in Scottsdale can certainly be expensive, those rates tend to drop significantly in the summer months. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds to do a search that produces a long list of rooms (not just beds) available at hotels in Scottsdale for $75-$150 a night. That’s because people don’t usually flock to Scottsdale when the forecast says it will be 117 degrees on June 15.
But the outrageous no-bid contracts and extravagant bed rates aren’t the only problem.
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