Hauled back into session by a vetoing governor, the Arizona legislature unanimously restored funding to the public schools. The governor has agreed to sign the revised bills.
While the gov’ won this round, the budget remains incomplete, and so we state employees still can’t be assured our next paychecks will land in our bank accounts. One way or another, the fundamental problem remains: the state simply does not have enough money to pay for basic services, and other than having the legislators and state employees get together throw a giant bake sale, there’s no way to get the money without raising taxes. And the legislature is philosophically (one might even say religiously) opposed to taxation. Our elected reps want to lower taxes, not increase them.
Well, I don’t want my taxes raised, either. But then neither do I want to lose the benefits of soooo-cialism such as
• roads
• police protection
• fire protection
• unemployment benefits
• child protective services
• prisons
• state prosecutors
• public defenders
• public records
• public health protection
• water treatment plants
• libraries
• museums
• schools
• universities
…and on and on. Given a choice between sinking further into Third-World living conditions or raising taxes, I’ll take the tax increase any day.