Taxpayer Group Declares Readiness to Fight Tax Hike on Ballot

AFP Arizona Deploys Gigantic Huge ATM Cash Machine at Capitol

PHOENIX -  At a news conference this morning at the state Capitol, the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity rallied legislators against the billion-dollar sales tax hike proposed by Governor Jan Brewer, and declared its readiness to fight the measure all the way to election day, if necessary.

“ATM stands for Already Taxed to the Max,” said AFP Arizona director Tom Jenney, referring to the gigantic inflatable bank machine AFP Arizona installed on the Senate Lawn for the news conference.  “The Governor and the Big Spenders at the Legislature need to know that taxpayers should not be used as an ATM cash machine when politicians have overspent their budgets and are short on revenue,” Jenney said. 

AFP Arizona declared its readiness to bring the ATM machine everywhere in the state, “from Apache County to Yuma.”  He also said that the name on the ATM debit card could easily be changed from “Brewer” to that of any legislator who voted to refer the tax increase to the ballot. But Jenney added that sending the tax hike to the ballot would involve a “monumental waste of Arizona’s collective resources.”

Jenney called on Gov. Brewer to drop her “suicidal” tax hike proposal, and asked her to work with legislators on alternative solutions to the state’s budget crisis, such as reducing wasteful administrative overhead in school districts, selling state assets, and privatizing state government functions that could be performed more efficiently by private enterprise.

Jenney also asked taxpayer activists to call Gov. Brewer’s office, at (602) 542-4331.

Other speakers at the news conference on the Senate Lawn included Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa), Sen. Pamela Gorman (R-Anthem), Reps. Frank Antenori and David Gowan of Tucson,  Rep. David Stevens of Cochise County, Dr. Byron Schlomach of the Goldwater Institute, and representatives from allied taxpayer-friendly organizations, such as the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, the PAChyderm Coalition, and the Coalition for a Conservative Majority.

Photos of the ATM machine are available on the AFP Arizona website (www.aztaxpayers.org/).

Submitted on behalf of AFP Arizona
The Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity (formerly the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers) serves the hard-working taxpayers of the Grand Canyon state by organizing grassroots support policy initiatives.  For more information, visit www.aztaxpayers.org/.

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