Week in Review: Tax Revolt

“Americans staged a property tax revolt on Election Day,” the Wall Street Journal trumpets, hailing Arizona’s overwhelming adoption of Prop 312, which holds government accountable on homelessness.

Law-abiding Americans from coast to coast are fed up with watching their once-gleaming cities devolve into lawlessness as homeless encampments overrun the streets. They’re sick and tired of paying taxes for public health and safety services they did not receive. That’s why Goldwater designed Prop 312. As the Journal reports: “The think tank devised the proposal that allows real estate owners to apply for property tax refunds when they spend money to protect their properties from homeless individuals, or to repair damage allegedly caused by them.”

Relief is here for Arizonans, and with Goldwater taking this landmark reform nationwide, relief is on the way for untold others, too.

Read more here.

10,000 and Counting

 Here’s another massive milestone for the right to earn a living. More than 10,000 Arizonans have reaped the rewards of the Goldwater Institute-led universal recognition of occupational licenses law, and countless more across the nation.

About one in four jobs nationwide requires an occupational license—a government permission slip to work. And when a worker moves to a new state, they often must go through the costly, time-sucking licensing process again. But Goldwater’s universal recognition reform streamlines occupational licensing by allowing skilled workers to use their out-of-state experience to quickly obtain a license to work in their new state.

Goldwater first passed this law in Arizona in 2019, and we’ve since enacted universal recognition in more than half the states in the country. We’ve freed countless workers to pursue their American Dream, and we aren’t done yet.

Read more here.

No More Government Giveaways

Seven million dollars for an illegal government giveaway of taxpayer money? The Goldwater Institute is challenging this crony scheme hatched by the city of Phoenix, and on Wednesday morning, we’ll argue our case before the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Phoenix devised a property tax shell game that allows a private real estate developer to pay no property taxes on its new high-rise in the heart of the city’s downtown. Meanwhile, other Arizona taxpayers would shoulder the difference.

Goldwater has a long, successful history of enforcing the Arizona Constitution Gift Clause, which bans taxpayer-funded “gifts” to private entities. After all, taxpayer dollars must always be put to public use, not to benefit private, special interests.

 Read more here.