With Ducey and legislative leaders meeting behind closed doors to negotiate a deal, Republican state Rep. Noel Campbell offered a plan for a sales tax increase. Most lawmakers agree higher pay and school funding is a good idea — the issue is how to fund them, he said. “There’s no way that we’re going to get an income tax increase through this body, it’s not gonna happen,” he said. They raised concerns about rural towns that already have 10 per cent sales tax rates. New dollars are necessary to meet a key demand: $1 billion to return school funding to levels seen before the Great Recession, said Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Educators Association, the largest teacher membership group.

Source: National Post April 24, 2018 23:35 UTC