By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via PinalCentral
To hear the proponents of Proposition 126 tell it, Arizona lawmakers are chomping at the bit to tax medical services, child care and even veterinary bills.
Never mind that lawmakers already can do that now — and have not.
But the sponsors, financed by Arizona Realtors and their national parent organization, want to put a provision in the state constitution to forever preclude the Legislature from expanding the current sales tax base to services that are not already taxed. And they have built a war chest — $6.1 million as of the last campaign finance report filed in the middle of August — to get voters to approve.
For the moment, the campaign operating under the umbrella of Citizens for Fair Tax Policy is the only game in town on the ballot measure. There is no organized opposition.
But the proposal has generated some resistance from an interesting and unlikely alliance, ranging from the Grand Canyon Institute which looks for ways to increase funding for public education, to Andrew Clark, the state director for Americans for Prosperity, a political action group funded by the conservative Koch brothers.
