By
Cory Spiller
For those of us who are registered voters, our sample ballots came in the mail last week. If you haven't taken a look yet, go fish it out of the trash and take it to your next party. You'll be a hit, guaranteed! Some of the propositions are ridiculous, others so virtuous that there is no viable argument against them, and that's no fun. Others, still, are laugh out loud funny. However, that should be no reason for anyone to blow these propositions off. After reading this column you will have the knowledge to vote on the three most inane propositions in this coming election.
Proposition 301 is an easy call, it's Jane Hull's plan to help fund our dilapidated schools. Prop. 301 would add an extra 0.6 cents to the current 5 cent sales tax. That's six cents on a $10 dollar purchase, $6 dollars on a $1000 dollar purchase.
For a state that is ranked 49th worst in drop out rate, and 50th in per pupil spending, 0.6 cents on the dollar isn't too much to ask. Arizona has pitiful salaries for teachers, some of the largest class sizes in the country and the shortest school year in the country. It sounds like we have an educational record that rivals Texas; maybe Hull went too easy. It would take a demented, child-hating resident of Sun City to vote "no" on 301, so help the kiddies out and vote "yes."
Proposition 105 has more of a spooky Halloween theme. It proposes to give tax exemption to land that is designated as a graveyard, or in politician talk, "property set aside for the burial or interment of dead human beings." This is nothing new, for the last 89 years Arizona hasn't taxed cemetery land. However, lately some counties have sued owners for the right to tax.
As a voter you must ponder over these propositions - they may sound harmless, but they could be political manipulations in disguise.
Voting "yes" on 105 would give property tax exemption to landowners who designate their land as a future cemetery. However, as soon as they rezone the land, or use the land for other uses, they must pay property taxes. So, conniving land owners could hold on to their land, not pay a red cent in taxes and then sell it when it's worth more. An important question voters must ask is: what if these land owners do bury people on their land and these same individuals become possessed, rise from their graves and begin killing off the indigenous population? Do they have to pay taxes then? Vote "no" on Prop. 105 - close another loophole for the land owners and the living dead.
Finally, we as voters have Proposition 300 to consider. It would raise the salary for our beloved state legislators from $24,000 a year to $30,000 a year. That's a sizable raise. We must ask: do they deserve it? We must answer: no.
The current legislators deserve no encouragement for their work this year. After passing Jeff Groscost's Senate Bill 1504, which made the state pay 33% of the cost of new cars for those willing to have their vehicles converted to bi-fuel vehicles, they have created a major fiasco. Not only do the individuals not have to use propane in their vehicles, therefore making the state pay for vehicles that don't cut down tailpipe pollution, but they have put the state 420 million dollars in debt.
There is another side to this bill. Many legislators have alternative incomes besides their measly legislator salary, therefore they can afford to spend about four months of the year at the capitol. Individuals who have no other income, or who don't have the type of career flexible enough to allow them play legislator four months out the year, would think twice before accepting a $24,000 a year salary. Voting "yes" on Prop. 300 will raise the salaries of legislators. In doing so, it will make the possibility that a financially underprivileged person would consider running for the legislator more likely. Vote "yes" on Prop. 300. It might make you bite your tongue to give the current legislators a raise, but in the long run it will open up the position to those who couldn't afford such a low paying position.
If you were considering sleeping in on Nov. 7 because you can't tell the difference between Gore and Bush, then come out and vote for education, the cemetery tax and the legislative pay raise. Let's help state government make some decisions - they obviously need it.
