Ann-Eve Pedersen, chair of the Quality Education and Job Acts Ballot committee and Kevin McCarthy, president of the Arizona Tax Research Association, talk about the possibility of making the 2010 sales tax increase permanent.

Pedersen says a permanent increase is positive because a significant percentage of the budget goes to education, which is a voter priority. She says their proposal has a measure which requires the legislature to spend the funds as directed by voters. Pedersen believes that by providing dedicated revenue to education now, people won’t have to be fearful of funds disappearing in lean times.

McCarthy’s organization was in favor of Prop 100, and believes it is doing its job. He says when the proposition expires it won’t necessarily make Arizona fall off a financial cliff, and the tax doesn’t necessarily protect us either. He says with or without the temporary sales tax, the state is going to have the same budget problems.