HINTS AT EXTENDING 1-CENT SALES TAX?

posted by Michael Chihak

Listen closely and carefully to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's comments lately on the 1-cent education sales tax could lead one to conclude that she isn't entirely opposed to it going away.

The governor vowed in her State of the State speech two weeks ago that as promised, she will see that the tax, passed by voters overwhelmingly in 2010, ends in 2013 as scheduled.

Brewer reiterated that promise in an interview with Arizona Week the same week that she gave her speech.

Yet, in that same interview -- and in the speech -- her comments may have hinted at the idea that she wouldn't oppose an extension of the 1-cent tax under certain circumstances.

In the interview, she said she would have to see what any extension proposal looked like. There are stirrings of a ballot initiative to extend the tax.

In her speech, as Democratic state Rep. Steve Farley pointed out at a legislative forum in Tucson this week, Brewer said she is adamant about letting "this" sales tax expire as scheduled. Farley said that could be an indication she would allow something else to take its place.