Governor Symington says his massive tax cuts have brought prosperity to Arizona. Actually, they are bringing on a fiscal train wreck that could damage the state for decades.
By Michele Laudig
Here's a real head-scratcher. The seemingly successful Soma Cafe, at Tatum and Shea, unexpectedly closed its doors over the weekend.
According to one of my colleagues (who was a Soma regular to the point that it was like his second office), there was a note on the door yesterday blaming investor panic about capital gains taxes that were coming due, and the problems faced by small business owners.
When Soma Express, the newer, smaller fast-casual spot on Camelback closed no
Irony of the Day:
A Tucson police lieutenant stole $560,000 in money seized from criminals under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act over the course of four years, gambling most of it away.
Richard Garcia, 47, admitted to the crime in federal court today, pleading guilty to "theft from an organization receiving federal funds," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona (full text below).
Garcia also pleaded guilty to
Two buses from the Roosevelt School District collided near 23rd and Southern avenues yesterday. According to police, one bus rear-ended the other while it was stopped at a stop sign. Sixty students were on the buses, but police say there were no major injuries...Inspectors have found that in the past two years, several IRS branches in Arizona failed to dispose of processed tax returns properly. Tax returns containing personal information were found in dumpsters in Tuscon, Tempe, and Phoenix.
What a scammer!
Timothy Keay Isaac, 47, pleaded guilty today in federal court to a slew of charges related to his illicit company, which brought into the country a Chinese Viagra-like drug without prescriptions.
But this is the part that bugs us: In 2006, Isaac applied for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration and received $35,000. Yet that very same year, the con-man took out a mortgage on a $2.9 million house. Our question: Where was the Social Security Administration -
We didn't exactly need a think tank to tell us how bad things have gotten here in Arizona, but what the heck -- if one wants to quantify our state's woe, who are we not immerse ourselves in the sad details?This week's bad news comes from this month's Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government's State Revenue Report. And while it helpfully explains that the economy is bad everywhere, it also provides proof that in Arizona, things are even worse than bad. Our personal income has fallen, our
