The Legislature has made cuts in taxes for corporations and a few people, but the more important fact is that they drastically changed the tax code. The Republicans’ new tax code favors the wealthy and puts the tax burden on the rest of us, the middle class.

Theses tax cuts favoring the wealthy and corporations have required cuts in spending. The cuts have come at the expense of children (defunding schools), public safety (cuts in the Highway Patrol), tourists and those of us who travel (closing rest stops on highways and closing state parks), the ill (reducing services for mental health), etc.

Consequently, the wealthy and the corporations are getting richer, we common folk are getting poorer, the poor are becoming destitute, and our state is nearing bankruptcy.

Several years ago, before the most recent wave of tax cuts and code changes, our state was in a financial position to weather the present financial crisis without cutting off the helping hand to the needy, without diminishing the prospects of our children, without jeopardizing our safety, and without preventing Arizona from meeting the challenges and opportunities of the future.

We critically need change in our state.

But change doesn’t happen without work, lots of work done by lots of people. That’s you.

Get informed. Pick an issue: education, transportation, safety, parks, etc. and use your information to write letters to the newspapers and to inform your friends, family, and neighbors .

Get involved. Attend a meeting of the White Mountain Democrats or the Little Colorado River Democrats. Come to meet (and become, if you aren’t already) the hard working Democrats who are working for you because they are working make a positive change in Arizona.

Barb Smith, Chair
Navajo County Democratic Committee