PHOENIX â Supporters seeking more public education funding submitted about 270,000 petition signatures to put a surcharge on state income taxes â but only for the richest 1 percent of Arizona wage earners â on Novemberâs ballot.
Figures from the state Department of Revenue estimate the bulk of the $690 million that would be raised by the initiative for K-12 education would come from about 20,000 taxpayers out of nearly 2.8 million who file tax returns.
Backers need at least 150,642 of the signatures to be found valid to qualify for the ballot.
Leaders of the effort said the reason they are seeking to increase taxes only for the top wage earners as a way to provide more money for education is that itâs politically expedient.
âWe wanted to know what the voters were going to tell us,â said Joe Thomas, Arizona Education Association president, as organizers of the #InvestInEd movement submitted the signatures to the Secretary of Stateâs Office on Thursday.
On one side, he said, the overwhelming response is that any new money should go âas close to the classroom as possible.â
âAnd the revenue stream that tested the highest was the revenue stream that we adopted, which was an income tax,â Thomas explained.
But not on everyone.
If you make more than $250,000
Only individuals earning more than $250,000 and couples who file jointly with income of more than $500,000 will pay a surcharge of 8 percent on anything they earn over that amount. The current maximum state tax rate is 4.54 percent.
And those in the $500,000-plus range, or couples with $1 million in income, will pay 9 percent of what they earn above those numbers.
Thomas bristled at questions over whether such a system to fund education on the backs of a small minority of Arizonans is fair.
âHow is it fair that students are in overcrowded, underfunded classrooms right now?â he responded.
âWhatâs not fair is we have the lowest-paid teachers in the nation,â Thomas said. âWhatâs not fair is we have underfunded and understaffed schools.â
And that, he said, is what led to the proposal they hope to put on the ballot.
âWhat we have to do is what the voters will let us do,â Thomas said. âAnd the voters said, âThis revenue stream.âââ
Governorâs stance
on issue
There already has been opposition, of a sort. And it has political overtones for Gov. Doug Ducey, who is trying to get re-elected, at least in part by touting what has been done for K-12 education.
The Arizona Education Project already has spent more than $1 million on TV ads praising Ducey for the money that was put into education this session, saying that progress is being made in improving teacher salaries. That effort has been funded by allies of the governor, including Pinnacle West Capital Corp. which is the parent of Arizona Public Service, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association.
Separately, the Republican Governors Association, pushing for another four-year term for Ducey, already has run its own commercials extolling the incumbent for his commitment to education.
On Thursday, the chamber unveiled another committee, Arizonans for Great Schools and a Strong Economy, which chamber spokesman Garrick Taylor said will spend whatever is necessary to defeat the measure.
Arguments about effects on the economy aside, Taylor said the initiative, if it passes, actually is âputting teacher pay at riskâ because the income of those at the very top of the tax scale is highly volatile.
âThe proponents are looking for a stable funding source,â he said. âThis isnât it.â
Ducey, while not taking a formal position on the initiative, has said he does not favor anything that raises taxes.
Thomas told a rally of teachers and supporters Thursday he expects the campaign to be attacked.
âThey will attempt to discredit us,â he said. âThey will say awful things because the want to keep the status quo.â
