Feel like voluntarily ponyin' up some of your hard-earned cash to help legislators dig themselves out of the budget crisis they created? Of course you don't, but that didn't stop legislators from taking time out of their day to pass a bill that asks taxpayers to do exactly that.
The "I-didn't-pay-enough fund" is the creation of numb Skull Valley Representative Judy Burges. It asks taxpayers to voluntarily donate money to the state government to help chip away at the state's $2.6 billion budget shortfall.
You may remember Burges from one of the other -- even more embarrassing -- bills she sponsored this session, the infamous "birther" bill, also making strides in the Arizona Legislature.
Burges' "I-didn't-pay-enough" bill passed the Arizona Senate on Monday and now awaits the signature or veto of Governor Jan Brewer.
We've been laughing about this bill since we first caught wind of it last December, If history tells us anything, in about 10 years, the measure will reap about $2,500 for the state.
The Arizona Capitol Times tracked down some numbers from similar programs implemented in other states across the country. Those programs have been slightly more successful than we expected, but nowhere near successful enough to even make a dent in Arizona's budget crisis.
In 2001, Arkansas implemented a similar program called the "Tax Me More Fund." That program generated a whopping total of $2,419 over nine years.
That's about $270 a year, which is $270 more than the creator of this piece of legislative garbage should be compensated for her services.
