Why I
am voting NO on Prop 123.
Proposition 123 is LESS money for schools and
RAISES PROPERTY TAXES
I wish I
could support Proposition 123. I wish it was in the best interest of our
schools, teachers, and taxpayers. I wish it lived up to the claim of being
“more money for schools without raising taxes.” Unfortunately it is none of
these things.
Anytime
politicians tell you they have found a way to spend money without raising taxes,
they are either raising debt or raiding a trust fund. It is why our federal
government owes $19 Trillion and our Social Security Trust Fund is depleted.
Our federal government has made false promises, and Arizona is now following
suit.
Proposition
123 is a raid on the Schools’ Permanent Endowment Trust Fund which was
established by Congress at Arizona’s statehood. It is a pool of money intended
to grow for the benefit of educating Arizona schoolchildren forever. We can
spend interest, but we are never to spend principle, as this plan does in a BIG
way. Proposition 123 violates this Congressional requirement, and if passed, a
new multi-year lawsuit will likely begin, further delaying funding for our
schools.
The
politicians are saying that this Trust is “underperforming our schools.” This
is incorrect. The amount we spend on schools from the Trust is now the highest
in Arizona history, roughly $100 million a year, and should double about every
seven years. Voting NO on Proposition 123 keeps this money for its intended
purpose, benefiting our schools forever. Saying yes cuts the trust fund
by over a third, costs our schools (and ultimately our taxpayers) Billions of
dollars, keeps teacher pay at 50th in the country, raises property taxes, and
creates a huge fiscal cliff in ten years that will hit hardworking
taxpayers.
And a dirty
little secret of Prop 123 is that it will also increase Trust fund payouts to
the State Hospital and State Prisons, among other non-school related spending
increases.
Bottom Line: Proposition 123 is LESS
money for schools, and RAISES property taxes (see AZ Republic
November 18th, 2015). It is shameful that the proponents are
misleadingly telling the public otherwise. Quite frankly, if the Yes on 123
campaign was a business instead of a political campaign it would be guilty of
fraudulent advertising. It seems to be an unfortunate rule of thumb in today’s
political world that since the politicians supporting Prop 123 will be out of
office in eight years or less, they care little that when this plan expires in
ten years our school finances will be a mess and taxpayers will foot a huge
bill.
Before being
elected as Treasurer, I had never run for office. Like many, I was frustrated
with the poor financial decisions being made on our behalf, and took a huge pay
cut to help our government make smarter decisions with taxpayer
money.
We can do
better. We can solve the inflation funding lawsuit without raiding the Trust,
provide higher pay to teachers, and save taxpayers from a huge fiscal cliff.
But the only way Arizona gets there is by voting NO on 123, as I will be
doing.
-Jeff
DeWit
State
Treasurer of Arizona
About Jeff
DeWit
Treasurer Jeff DeWit is a successful Financial
Professional with over 23 years of experience. He started his career in finance
in 1992 at one of the largest brokerage firms in the country, moving up quickly
to become one of Smith Barney's youngest fully licensed Investment
Professionals. In the mid-90s Jeff became a Market Maker in financial futures
contracts as one of the youngest Full Members of the CME as well as a full
member of the Chicago Board of Trade. In 1999, Jeff started a company called
ECHOtrade, and during his 14 years as CEO grew the company to over 500 licensed
professional traders worldwide with total volume in excess of a billion shares
traded a month. He developed one of the first software platforms that enabled
market makers to trade off the exchange floor, and created some of the best
real-time financial risk management software and algorithms. He has a degree in
Business Administration with a minor in Finance, and an accounting
degree.
Treasurer DeWit is a loving husband to
his wife and best friend Marina and adoring father to his three fun and
energetic daughters.
