The Arizona Senate just came up not one but two votes short for the bill that offers Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposed statewide sales tax election in the new version of the proposed state budget. Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, warned fellow Republicans that this rejection means they won’t get the $250 million in repeal of state property taxes and $400 million in income tax cuts (slated to start in 2012).
In an attempt to come up with enough votes, Senate Republican leadership had split the tax cuts and sales tax election into separate bills. (The House had put both in the same bill to pass the entire budget on July 31). That means Burns either expects the House to refuse to pass the tax cuts without the sales tax election, or he believes Brewer would veto a standalone tax cut bill (and perhaps the entire budget again).
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