The Arizona Free Enterprise Club urges a NO vote on HB 2651, legislation that would expand funding for Clean Elections and create taxpayer subsidized officeholder expense accounts for elected officials.

Under HB 2651, a special tax deduction will be added to Arizona’s individual income tax form for contributions made to the Clean Elections fund. If this subsidy sounds familiar, that is because we already tried this bad idea for over a decade.  Thankfully, after intensive lobbying by the Free Enterprise Club and others it was finally eliminated by the legislature a couple of years ago. Now they want to bring it back.

Even worse, HB 2651 would establish officeholder expense accounts, which will be used by politicians to engage in electioneering on the taxpayer’s dime.  Under no circumstances should taxpayers EVER fund the activities of elected officials. This is a waste of resources and tips the scales in favor of incumbents over challengers in political campaigns.

The legislature should not vote to give itself a special fund for political activities. The Free Enterprise Club urges a NO vote on HB 2651.