Local opinion: Prop 414 is more than we can bear

Prop 414 would raise the total sales tax rate in Tucson to 9.2%, one of the highest in the state and an increase of more than 50% in less than eight years. Tucson’s new car dealers are obligated to charge sales tax on vehicle purchases. Consequently, we collect and turn over to the government about 10% of all sales tax generated in the region. Our customers have a vested interest in this proposal, and we feel obligated to weigh in on their behalf. The Tucson New Car Dealers Association (TNCDA) is concerned that this latest proposed sales tax increase, when combined with those already in effect, would be more than consumers can bear. At a time of high inflation, further raising prices of all retail goods in Tucson will have a ripple effect throughout the region. You don’t have to live in the City limits to shop in Tucson, work in Tucson or visit Tucson. Prop 414 forces consumers to seek relief from steep taxation by shopping elsewhere, which in turn harms local businesses and ultimately decreases the City’s anticipated sales tax collections. Everybody loses.

We are also concerned that, despite a 75% increase in the city budget in the past 10 years (that is more than $1 billion in additional revenue per year at their disposal), city leaders are back asking for more. Prop 414 is the third time in the past eight years the city has claimed that, without raising taxes, it will be unable to deliver the most essential city services — police, firefighting, and good roads.

At the same time, however, the city is somehow able to fund everything else in its discretionary budget, including things like providing fare-free transit for working commuters, requiring contractors to charge the city above-market “prevailing wages” for city construction projects, and commissioning expensive studies that contemplate spending billions of dollars on unnecessary projects like a city-run electric company and Internet Service Provider, to name just a few. We think the city should fund essential services like police and fire first and then let the voters decide whether they want to raise taxes, yet again, to fund these kinds of “extras,” not the other way around.

It’s important to recognize that many new car buyers don’t live within the city limits, yet the ever-increasing sales tax all goes to the city of Tucson. The TNCDA believes that its customers are better served by initiatives such as the Regional Transportation Authority (“RTA”), which receives a ½ cent sales tax dedicated to improving roads throughout the entire metropolitan area. That regionally coordinated approach, which has worked well for 20 years and will soon be up for renewal, makes more sense than a city sales tax, since taxpayers (our customers) move throughout several municipalities and jurisdictions each day. The city’s prioritization of its own funding needs, through initiatives like Prop 414, reflects a go-it-alone attitude and lack of commitment to cooperative, regional solutions that benefit citizens no matter where they live, work, and drive.

Other cities in Arizona have grown their municipal budgets by enacting pro-business, pro-jobs, and pro-growth policies that expand the total size of the economic pie. We would like to see Tucson embrace this same approach — engaging with the business community, including groups like ours, on a regular basis and especially before dropping initiatives like this one into a Special Election. The TCNDA and business community seek to nurture a successful Tucson driven by a vibrant economy. We want a partnership with the city where together we can grow the economic pie for everyone, rather than having the city routinely asking voters for a larger share and leaving consumers with less.

Vote No on Prop 414 and tell the city that funding for essential services like police, firefighting, and road maintenance should be the first priorities in the discretionary budget and not the last; that the city must continue to think and act regionally; and that when it comes to sales tax, enough is enough. Then let’s all work together to make it happen.