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Prop 100 supporters make lemonade

Posted: May 8, 2010 11:20 PM
Updated: May 8, 2010 11:20 PM


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TUCSON- With just ten days to the election, those for and against Prop. 100 are kicking their campaigns into high gear.

The special election is May 18th. If Prop. 100 passes, expect to see a penny sales tax jump.

It's designed to create $1 billion per year, for three years.

Two thirds would go to education. The remaining money would fund public safety and health and human services.

Proponents say if Prop. 100 fails, the state's education system will be crippled even more, bringing larger class room sizes and a lower standard of education.

Those in opposition fear the one percent tax is unfair to businesses already struggling in hard economic times.

Opponents say Prop. 100 will impact lower income families more.

"K-12 education is the biggest crisis we're facing," says parent/organizer of Saturday's 100 Lemonade Stand campaign Dev Sethi, "It's amazing in ten days, we've ended up with 84 stands around town."

The Prop. 100 supporter says the purpose is to encourage people to vote yes, "If we can't solve the education problem we can't solve anything else. The legislature couldn't put it together, and it's in the parents hands. It's in the community's hands now."

Sethi says if Prop. 100 fails, an entire generation of kids will lose out on opportunity, putting the future in jeopardy, "We are definitely in a tough time. We've got a bushel full of lemons."

State Senator Frank Antenori said at a debate Friday, the tax will unfairly target a certain segment of the population, "Particularly again, the bottom of the economic ladder who use most of their disposal income to buy necessities that are taxed. I think this is just the wrong way to go about doing this."

Antenori says this tax couldn't come at a worse time for the business man, "A penny sales tax is really going to spank him and his business really hard, and there's a lot of other guys told me that same thing. "

"There are places that you can go that tax those who can best afford it," says Larry Berkson, president of All State Vehicles.

Berkson proposes another way to solve the education crisis, should Prop. 100 fail, "And that is, tax private party auto sales for additional revenue. The tax would be collected at A-DOT when you register your vehicle right there at the window."

He says this plan is successfully used in almost two dozen other states and would save the average consumer from being taxed everyday, "The average person buys a car every 54 months at this point."

The auto dealer says so far his plan has fallen on deaf ears.

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