Robb: State's big lie on property tax increases exposed

From the political notebook:
www.TucsonCitizen.com
Published: November 13,2007

• One of the biggest lies in Arizona government - your property taxes won't go up because the rate will remain the same - may have run its course.

In 17 school districts on Tuesday, Phoenix-area voters turned down requests for additional spending from local property taxes. (However in Pima County, six requests for bonds and overrides by three school districts all were approved.)

State law permits local school districts to exceed state budget limits if approved by voters and supported by the local property tax. These overrides had become routine and school districts began to treat the money not as supplemental but as part of their base budgets.

Voters have almost always supported these overrides. The few rejections were usually over governance issues, not a reflection of an anti-tax sentiment. And they were usually subsequently approved after the district smoothed over whatever disgruntlement had arisen.

This spate of rejections, however, clearly reflects anti-tax sentiment. The same tax rate, of course, means higher bills if property values increase.

And residential property values have skyrocketed in the Phoenix area.

People are again agitated over property taxes, although they mostly have themselves to blame. Increases in property tax levies have been largely driven by voter-approved bonds and overrides.

Whether this is the beginning of a new property tax revolt or a temporary spasm of voter reaction to the effect of rising property values on tax bills is unclear.

School districts will undoubtedly be returning to their voters as quickly as possible with new tales of woe about the consequences of these rejections. And there still doesn't seem to be a lot of steam behind the initiatives being circulated to cap property values for tax purposes, requiring honesty on the rates.

Still, people are clearly beginning to see through the con that property taxes aren't going up because the rates are being maintained.

• They may also be becoming uncomfortable with continuing to pile up the cost of social programs on tobacco taxes. Voters in Oregon rejected a ballot measure that would have increased cigarette taxes 84 cents a pack to pay for expanding health insurance coverage to children up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or a family income of approximately $62,000 a year.

Those working on a health care initiative for Arizona should take note.

Universal access can be provided at little additional expense to taxpayers by the simple expedient of allowing any lawful resident of Arizona to buy into the state's Medicaid program. That would also largely take care of affordability problems as well.

• Another cautionary note to Arizona schemers was offered by the voters in the Seattle area.

The usual Arizona suspects are trying to arrange to get a massive tax increase to the 2008 ballot for transportation funding.

On Tuesday, however, Seattle area voters rejected a six-tenths of 1 percent increase in the sales tax and an increase in vehicle registration fees to build 186 miles of roads and 50 miles of light rail.

In the aftermath, the Seattle Times suggested that congestion pricing and toll roads be considered as an alternative.

Maybe Arizona State University and the Arizona Republic are right after all. Maybe Seattle is smarter.

• By voting for a bill last week banning discrimination against homosexuals in the workplace, Republican Congressman Jeff Flake made his likely primary election challenge from state Rep. Russell Pearce racier and riskier.

Flake is, of course, a national conservative hero on fiscal issues. And until this vote, he was an orthodox social conservative. That left Pearce with only the illegal immigration issue to bang over Flake's head. Flake supports comprehensive immigration reform, including providing legal status for those currently here illegally. Pearce is one of the few in the country who has actually advocated roundups and mass deportations.

Flake, however, has been run against before on the immigration issue. That was the mainstay of Stan Barnes' primary challenge to him four years ago, which Flake survived comfortably.

Nevertheless his political status is a bit rocky. Many East Valley leaders don't like his refusal to ask for earmarks, appropriations for local projects specified by the area's congressman. They want their pork and resent Flake for not trying to produce it.

Pearce isn't their cup of tea either. However, they might calculate that he might be more pliable on delivering the bacon.

If social conservatives decide they can no longer trust Flake, this could be a whole different ballgame.

Robert Robb is a columnist for The Arizona Republic.