Poll: 71% of AZ small businesses oppose Prop,. 100 18% sales tax increase

Seven in 10 entrepreneurs saying ‘No’ to 1¢ sales tax increase

PHOENIX, Ariz., Feb. 25, 2010 – Results from a special poll of Arizona small business owners released today by their leading representative association show 71 percent of them voting ‘No’ on Proposition 100, the May 18 ballot referendum seeking a three-year, 1¢ increase in the state sales tax.

“The response to this special survey of our members on Proposition 100 came back fast and emphatic,” said Farrell Quinlan, Arizona state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, Arizona’s and America’s leading small business association. “NFIB/Arizona is actively exploring how our organization and members can be most effective in the campaign to defeat Proposition 100. Small business owners’ opposition to increasing the sales tax is overwhelming and their voice will be heard during the statewide debate over raising our taxes.”

Unique among most associations, NFIB bases its legislative lobbying positions and political action solely on what its members tell it, through regular balloting, are the issues vital to their survival as small business owners. The special ballot on Proposition 100 was faxed and e-mailed February 17-19.

“In conversations I’ve had with many of our members, there seems to be an over-arching attitude that they spend their daily lives balancing revenues with expenditures so they expect state government to do the same,” said Quinlan. “Arizona is not an under-taxed state. We have the fifth-highest sales-tax burden in the nation. The average Arizonan annually pays $1,440.83 in sales taxes, which is 43 percent above the national average. Add to this income taxes and the new state property tax we all pay and Arizonans are indignant that the state must make do with what it has.”

Should Proposition 100, adding 1-cent to the state sales tax rate for 3 years, be passed into law?

Yes   24.8%
No  70.6%Undecided  4.6%

NFIB is the nation’s leading small business association, with offices in Washington, D.C. and all 50 state capitals. Founded in 1943 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, NFIB gives small and independent business owners a voice in shaping the public policy issues that affect their business. NFIB’s powerful network of grassroots activists send their views directly to state and federal lawmakers through our unique member-only ballot, thus playing a critical role in supporting America’s free enterprise system. NFIB’s mission is to promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses. More information is available online at www.NFIB.com/newsroom.