By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Calculating numbers for income tax return with pen and calculator
The question of whether Arizonans get to vote on a tax hike on the wealthy to raise $690 million a year for education could depend on what a judge thinks of a math teacher’s explanation of the difference between “percent” and “percentage point.”
At a hearing Tuesday, both sides agreed that the Invest in Ed initiative would boost the tax rate on earnings above $250,000 a year for individuals and $500,000 from 4.54 percent to 8 percent. And what’s clear is that the mathematical difference between the two figures is 3.46.
The petitions to put the issue on the November ballot describe the increase as 3.46 percent.
But Kory Langhofer, representing the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, argued that those signing the petition were misled into thinking that the 4.54 percent tax rate would be going up just 3.46 percent. If that were true, he said, the new tax rate would be 4.7 percent and not 8 percent.
More to the point, Langhofer told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Smith that the petitions should have told signers that the increase, as expressed by percent, is really 76 percent.
