Governor Doug Ducey Fights Back Against Bernie Sanders Endorsed Tax Hike In Arizona

Under Governor Doug Ducey, Arizona has become a premier destination for job creators and Americans fed up with heavy-handed government regulations and burdensome taxes.

Due to strong and innovative leadership from Governor Ducey, Arizona has become a national leader on occupational licensing reform and one of the best states in the country for businesses, all while residents continue to enjoy low taxes. While the governor is leading the fight to make Arizona one of the best places in the country to live, work, and raise a family, partisan liberals and their out-of-state special interest allies – including Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders – are attempting to rollback Arizona’s success and burden hardworking families and businesses with the largest tax increase in state history.

Despite Governor Ducey’s strong record on education, which includes 20% teacher pay raises and $6.6 billion of additional funding for schools, proponents of Proposition 208 are masquerading their tax-hiking crusade as helping teachers, failing to point out the devastating cost that comes with the proposal. If passed, Arizona’s top income tax rate would nearly double from 4.5% to 8%, billions of dollars in new taxes would be dumped onto working families, and small businesses – which are the engine of Arizona’s economy – would be walloped.

Business leaders and associations from across the state have joined Governor Ducey in strongly opposing Proposition 208 with the governor lambasting the proposal, warning that the Sanders-endorsed tax hike would hurt Arizona’s economy by driving residents and businesses out of the state:

“It would be the equivalent of hanging a sign over our state that said, ‘Look elsewhere,'” Ducey said. “All the pipeline of people and opportunities that are coming to Arizona would be hurt.” 

An editorial from the Wall Street Journal highlighted the severe impacts of Proposition 208 noting that it “would whack job creators and make people rethink retirement in Scottsdale or a business move to Tucson.” In addition, if passed, Arizona would lose its standing as the state with one of the lowest income tax rates in the nation, and jump to the eighth-highest according to the Tax Foundation:

Economists Art Laffer, Erwin Antoni and Steve Moore estimate that the tax increase would result in the migration to Arizona of 700,000 fewer people, 237,000 fewer jobs created, and a reduction of $25.5 billion in personal income growth over the next 10 years.

Americans have been moving to Arizona in droves to escape high-tax states like California, and Governor Ducey is fighting to keep it that way.