By Paige Turner
At the Tea Party this week the Town Manager and the new Mayor were making claims against a new bill HB2061 that eliminates taxes on food in the state of Arizona. In their argument, they stated that we taxpayers have a choice when it comes to the food tax in Payson. If the Town of Payson doesn’t get the revenue generated from this tax, the County will raise our property taxes to compensate for the loss. He said, “We (the people) have 2 options concerning this tax.”
Whether this bill passes or not, we the people are being “played” to think we have a choice – freedom.
OPTION 1: You have the freedom to choose to eat by buying groceries but if you choose this option we will force you to pay the tax on the food or you will not take the groceries home with you.
OR OPTION 2: You have the freedom to choose to not to pay taxes on food, BUT the Town will compensate for the loss by raising your property taxes that you will pay or risk losing the home you live in.
The Town Manager went on to say, “Only 3 towns in Arizona don’t have a grocery tax.” We did a little fact checking on this statement and turns out this is 100% false.
The TRUTH is there are 21 cities/towns that don’t have a food tax, and this is where YOUR third option (the one that benefits YOU) comes in to play right now… you have the freedom to shop for groceries in Williams, Tusayan, Tucson, Tombstone, Suprise, Superior, Sedona, Sahuarita, Quartzite, Bullhead City, Camp Verde, Colorado City, Flagstaff, Jerome, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Marana, Mesa, Oro Valley, Parker, or Phoenix! ★ ★ ★ ★
