Leg%20Council%20Draft%20Statute%20Revenue%20Limitation.pdf
To fellow PFA members and patriots,
Our Federal Government is way out of control and PFA has good ideas for bringing necessary change but we can not forget that state and local government has at least as much control over our lives as the federal government. If you live in one of the 27 states that have the initiative process then read on...
The holy grail of taxpayers and tax fighters everywhere has been the establishment of a limitation on government spending that cannot be evaded, and that could be enacted with a single citizen initiative, dealing with a single subject. We already have a plethora of different spending, tax, fee, assessment, etc. limitations yet government has always found a way to get more revenue and power over our lives. Instead of tweaking each of these to close loopholes, that incidentally would take many separate initiatives we realized that our elusive goal could be achieved with a single new all encompassing limitation on dollars regardless of the source f the revenue. Spending limitations don't work as seen with the Alternative Spending Limitation (AEL) which does set a spending limit where government can continue to stockpile excess revenue (paid by taxpayers) and get a simple majority vote of the people to spend those funds. They never offer to let the people demand the refund of this excess revenue vs. the government spending it. If we voters were instead presented with a refund option, do you think the taxpayers would ever opt to let the government spend our "excess" tax dollars.
Why do we have so many lame tax limitation measures? Simple they are drafted by the government for their benefit and to appease overtaxed taxpayers. What about measures that have been promoted by legitimate and trustworthy taxpayer advocacy organizations? They are usually concerned with a specific type or source of revenue, leaving open the certainty that there will be a shift of the tax burden onto other taxpayers or from your property tax bill onto your income or sales tax. California is case in point. They have a great property tax limitation (Prop 13) but now they have close if not the highest tax burden of all the states and their bureaucrats are scheming up ways to enhance government revenue.
The failure of the past tax limitation measures is that they just set the stage for government to shift the tax burden onto different payees, or they resulted in increased fees for government services. Mike and I have figured out how to fix this!
Let me tell you about a brand new "revenue limitation" measure that could be applied to cities, counties or even the whole state? This is a revolutionary and "evasion proof" way to constrain government... enforced by a supermajority vote of the people and refunds of unauthorized revenue. It limits all revenue, taxes, fees, fines, assessments, admission into events and whatever produces government revenue. It also allows for the return of revenue from an arbitrary date prior to passage of this measure. This is not a retroactive provision, it is just a requirement that the government entity mail out refund checks for revenue received that does not meet the voter provisions prescribed by this measure whether or not the revenue was received before or after this measure passed. This provision will assure that there won't be a flurry of tax and fee increases just before the voters enact the measure since all such funds would need to be refunded.
To avoid elections for every little revenue source a set of exemptions are included to "grandfather" in current and revenue deemed to be acceptable. We realized that the exemptions could be architected to effect positive change by incentivizing specific actions by the governing body and allowing revenue under certain conditions.
We are looking for folks with a legal background to join our effort in reviewing the measure.
There is little hope of getting something like this passed at the state level, even if it only applied to the municipalities. But other citizen groups might be willing to promote a version as an initiative designed for their City or County to qualify for the Nov. ballot. These sorts of initiatives can only be voted on in Nov of even numbered years absent a local law enabling other dates. If converted to a County measure it might be possible to craft the measure so as to apply to both the incorporated and rural areas. We had Leg. Council draft a version (rough draft) that would apply to all Cities in Arizona but we are considering doing this MUCH closer to home via the initiative process. The deadline for submitting signatures is in early July to qualify for the Nov. ballot so time is of the essence.
We have been in communication with our contact at one of the top conservative think tanks, and he has expressed his enthusiasm.
A copy of a draft (not perfect yet) written by AZ Leg. Council is attached.
Marc Goldstone (928) 754-8305
Mike Lipshultz (928) 201-0419
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