Reasons for Voting No on Prop 100

Dear readers,

OK, here are some of my more serious reasons for why I want everyone to vote no on proposition 100, the proposed AZ sales tax increase.

1

My biggest reason is based on my deeply held guiding principle that more government in our fallen world is usually bad. Higher taxes = more government power = more unwise government spending = less prosperity for the commoners.

2

The emotional, whiny appeals coming from prop 100 supporters are annoying. “If you vote no on prop 100, you’re taking little Billy’s school-issued saxophone away! How can you be so cruel?” My response is, I’m not cruel, and my tea-party friends aren’t cruel, either. I don’t like to brag about these things, but proportionally speaking, I give more to charity than Barack Obama does. And I’m a friendly, compassionate person, but I don’t agree with higher taxes.

3

Your grocery bill will go up. And the cost of everything you buy in Arizona will go up.

Except for the stuff you buy on the black market. And you know there’s a local currency movement that's partially motivated by avoiding taxes, and there’s lots of people who work under the table to avoid taxes- but those things are not the solution to the problem, they're illegal. But hey I worked under the table for 3 weeks once when I was a plumber’s helper, and I didn't report it on my taxes. I know some waiters/ servers like to get cash tips rather than credit card tips because they don't report cash tips on their taxes. But I digress.

4

I got laid off, I’m mad at my drama students, and I’m bitter about teaching… so I’m going to have a little bit of a smirk when I fill in that “No” bubble. Ha ha ha.

5

Throwing money at public schools does not improve them. When you look at cost-per-pupil statistics, you’ll find that private schools do a better and less expensive job of educating children than public schools do.

Here's the proof:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/of-all-states-new-york-schools-spend-most-money-per-pupil/

That article has a great graph that shows what each state spends per pupil

After the article, a commenter wrote:

“Note Utah, dead last, and yet, a state that graduates many more from high school than most, and attracts a lot of international high tech firms because of the well educated, bi and tri lingual work force. Say what you will about the Mormons, but that’s proof positive that their community knows how to take care of the basics without overspending”

Woo-hoo!

But the numbers on that graph in the article isn’t really accurate. Here’s a great article and video that explains how much public education really costs per pupil:

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11432

6

If the Arizona state government has to cut funding from welfare or unemployment or entitlements, or state employee pensions or whatever because prop 100 fails, I say that’s great. Let people who are down on their luck rely on themselves, their families and friends, their churches, private charity organizations, etc. Force the government to figure out how to cut spending and balance their budget without raising taxes.

Greece is showing us what happens to countries that are too dependent on the government- they go bankrupt and they riot and they kill bankers.

If voting no on prop 100 causes public schools to fail… so be it. I’m still going to vote no on prop 100. Maybe if public schools fail even more, that might actually drive parents and concerned citizens to create better charter schools, private schools, religious schools, or home-schools.

Vote no on prop 100!

Sincerely,
Telemoonfa