When is a sales tax not a sales tax? When it’s labeled a “transaction privilege tax.” Speaking at a Candidates’ Forum sponsored by Citizens for Picture Rocks September 20, Pima County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bronson called for a sales tax to be voted on by the people to raise money for road repairs, a big issue in the rural community, most of whose dirt roads are unmaintained. According to the community newsletter Picture Rocks Digest, Bronson said that “Pima County is the only county in Arizona that relies solely on a property tax….”
Currently there is a ½ percent “transaction privilege tax,” dedicated to the Pima County Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). RTA itself calls it a “sales tax” that is paid on “Retail Sales, Contracting, Utilities, Restaurant & Bar, Rental of Real Property, Rental of Personal Property.” Bronson’s proposal actually would double the existing county sales tax.
When is a highway bypass not a highway bypass? The Digest also quoted Bronson as saying she is “on record opposing an I-11 road but she said that a ‘Sonoran Corridor’ is not the same as I-11.” A new interstate highway through the Avra Valley, as proposed by County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, is bitterly opposed by area residents who believe that the new highway would destroy the communities, wildlife and tourism jobs in the area while encouraging the export of jobs across the border.
What the Supervisor actually said was that the Board of Supervisors in 2007 adopted a resolution opposing any I-10 bypass in Pima County(2007-343). The county website lists I-11 and the Sonoran Corridor as major goals and is part of the Economic Development Plan approved by the Supervisors, Sup. Bronson voting with the majority.
The Sonoran Corridor was shown for over a year as part of I-11 on those maps, but under fire from I-11 critics its name was changed and it is now designated an “auxiliary highway” to avoid the bypass issue. A bypass by any other name…. Instead of an east-west line linking I-10 and I-19, the bypass drops south and then west to connect with Huckelberry’s proposed Avra Valley I-11 route. More importantly, funding for the Sonoran Corridor was rejected by voters in the 2015 bond election.
That doesn’t faze the Chair of the Board who told Jim Nintzel in a Zona Politics interview published in the June 26th Tucson Weekly, “We have every intention with moving forward. We’re looking at our options….So, that corridor is going to be essential to our economic well-being as we move forward in the future. It’s our connection with Mexico. It’s our connection with Canada. Again, the transportation logistics piece. So, it’s, you know, the ducks are all in a row, here. Let’s make sure we get to the finish line.”
What is “responsible growth?” The Picture Rocks newsletter said Bronson closed saying she is “committed to responsible growth.” Many of her $187,000 in campaign contributions come from real estate developers and promoters whose commitment to “responsible growth” is questionable.
Large contributors include Diamond Ventures, whose unbuilt 3000-acre Swan Southlands development would get a free access highway with the Sonoran Corridor; real estate attorney Bob Gugino, who took in $142,000 from the Rio Nuevo Board; the Kai family currently negotiating the sale of Avra Valley land to Monsanto for a giant greenhouse to grow genetically-modified seeds; Kurtis Wahl, whose DKL Holdings bought Kai land to impose a garbage dump on the rural community of Silverbell West; and many more.
One rather curious contribution of $5,000 came from Tucson Democratic Party activist Thelma D. Seymour. It seems that Ms. Seymour died on July 11, 2015.