Proposition 310 is just a big, fat tax hike with no accountability

Proponents of the Proposition 310 tax increase tell voters it would cost just a penny when they buy coffee or just 10 cents when buying dinner to help fund “under-resourced” fire districts.

But make no mistake, Proposition 310 is a big tax hike.

A new study by Common Sense Institute Arizona finds that Proposition 310 will cost taxpayers $5.5 billion over the next 20 years. On top of the bill footed by taxpayers, the institute estimates it will result in the loss of thousands of jobs, shrink our economy by $7.4 billion and reduce personal income by $8.55 billion over the lifetime of the tax.

Those are the consequences that all 7 million Arizonans face under Proposition 310 to fund fire districts that serve 1.5 million residents.

Fire districts have misused public funds

These fire districts are not beyond reproach, with clear and documented cases of taxpayer fraud and embezzlement of public funds.

For example, the fire chief of the Yucca Fire District admitted to and was convicted of embezzling $40,000 for the purchase of personal items such as boats and a 3D printer. Another chief in Coolidge pleaded to using a fire district credit card to charge thousands of dollars of personal expenses.

A fire district employee in Show Low colluded with her father, a former fire chief, and fiancé who was her direct report to submit false audits to cover their $1.8 million laundering scheme of taxpayer money.

Proposition 310 contemplates no reforms or additional measures of accountability for public funds. Instead, it provides a big windfall for fire districts that could be spent 100% on papering over pension debts, instead of on direct fire and ambulance operations to reduce response times or improve patient outcomes.

Prop. 310 is bad tax policy and lazy legislating

More than half of what’s generated by the Proposition 310 tax will be allocated to the 12 fire districts with the largest budgets, meaning that the best funded districts will be even better funded, while the remaining 132 districts get what’s left.

That’s the wrong approach.

Proposition 310 isn’t just bad tax policy; it is lazy legislating. Despite having a $5 billion surplus in 2022, lawmakers chose to refer a substantial tax increase to the ballot, rather than prioritize accordingly.

The Legislature could have held actual hearings, received testimony, investigated the underlying issues in each of the districts and worked to craft targeted solutions that don’t result in soaking all taxpayers. Instead, they avoided doing the real work and punted their problems to voters.

Vote no and press lawmakers to do a better job

Voters should demand better from their lawmakers.

Legislators in essence rubber-stamped a proposal that gives themselves no oversight and gives taxpayers no representation.

The millions of Arizonans who don’t live in a fire district won’t have a vote. And those who do live in one district won’t have a vote in the other 143.

Don’t like the way the districts are spending your tax dollars? Too bad. With Proposition 310, the tax isn’t going anywhere, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

But there were and still are other options. The Legislature will likely have another surplus next year, thanks to prior tax cuts.

Saying no to a tax hike doesn’t mean saying no to public safety. It means voters want lawmakers to do their jobs and come up with a plan that doesn’t burden taxpayers further.

Arizona voters should do just that and vote no on Proposition 310.

Scot Mussi is president of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Reach him at Scot@azfree.org; on Twitter, @azfec.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prop. 310 is just a big, fat tax hike with no accountability