Arizona's tax base eroded by anti-immigrant legislation.

Even the cookie monster says: "STOP SB1070"
Resistance Alley, Phoenix (June 4, 2011)

Apparently, America's undocumented immigrants paid $11 billion in taxes last year, while the multinational GE paid NOTHING. No wonder Arizona's economy is still in the gutter - we chased away all the honest, hard-working taxpayers, while cutting extra breaks to freeloading, exploitative corporations...So, thanks a lot SB1070, ALEC, Russ Pearce, and Jan Brewer - and all the idiots who voted for the right wing last election thinking they were protecting their own interests. You screwed us all.

-------------------------

Unauthorized Immigrants pay taxes too.

Immigration Policy Center

April 18, 2011

Estimates of the State and Local Taxes Paid by Unauthorized Immigrant Households

Tax Day is an appropriate time to underscore the often-overlooked fact that unauthorized immigrants pay taxes. The unauthorized, like everyone else in the United States, pay sales taxes. They also pay property taxes—even if they rent. At least half of unauthorized immigrants pay income taxes. Add this all up and it amounts to billions in revenue to state and local governments. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants.

These households may include members who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. Collectively, these households paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes. That included $1.2 billion in personal income taxes, $1.6 billion in property taxes, and $8.4 billion in sales taxes. The states receiving the most tax revenue from households headed by unauthorized immigrants were California ($2.7 billion), Texas ($1.6 billion), Florida ($806.8 million), New York ($662.4 million), and Illinois ($499.2 million) {See Figure 1 and Table 1}. These figures should be kept in mind as politicians and commentators continue with the seemingly endless debate over what to do with unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States. In spite of the fact that they lack legal status, these immigrants—and their family members—are adding value to the U.S. economy; not only as taxpayers, but as workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs as well.

Signs of Resistance at TUSD: VIVA LA RAZA!!!

The post is from the Tucson Citizen Three Sonorans Blog, written, I believe, by David Abie Morales.


The photos are mine, from the TUSD HQ protest yesterday afternoon. What an amazing crowd was there - hundreds and hundreds of young people, old people, hippies, queers, Brown Berets (in uniform)...and over 100 cops.




This is a good account of the public highlights...I'm just too exhausted to write my own right now.

-----------The Tucson Citizen: Three Sonorans Blog---------

What happened Tuesday at the TUSD meeting?

May 4, 2011
David Abie Morales

To begin with, my phone battery died at around 5:30, as the meeting was starting.

No email/text/facebook until now, 8 hours later. 60 text messages and 66 facebook alerts. So to all my friends, no I was not arrested, and yes I’m alright.

I was inside the TUSD board room capturing video and didn’t know what was going on outside until I was debriefed afterwards. Well, I knew a little bit from those around me who still had juice on their phones. In addition, I went through two camcorder batteries.

Why does the Southern Arizona Leadership Council have leaders that compromise on justice and racist attacks on Mexican-Americans in Tucson?

Preliminary thoughts: John Pedicone royally messed up tonight. There was about a hundred cops there, all armed, some in riot gear, and one would think they were at a G8 meeting, not a local school board meeting.

Not even top elected officials like Richard Elias could get inside. Full pat-downs, metal detectors, and cops after cops after cops.

There was cops in the back board room, a wall of cops of about 5 in front of the board, another wall of cops at the back, more cops in the lobby, and more cops outside to get in, and several dozen outside protecting a barricade of the building.

Helicopters, riot gear, and police everywhere you looked.


This is what a leader from Oro Valley, where John Pedicone lives, thinks of Tucsonans. All a bunch of thugs and criminals. The cops were not there to protect and serve us the community, they were there to arrest us the community.

There were arrests, there was police brutality, and there were other extreme violations of rights.

All of this I will cover more in depth tomorrow. It is still surreal to me. John Pedicone actually ordered the arrest of Lupe Castillo, one of our most loved professors, elderly and disabled. The cops brought her to the ground. Her crime?

Free speech.

This is an example of how Pedicone and Stegeman do not understand the community. Treating her like they did was like beating up our abuelita, our loved grandmother.

Pedicone crossed the line tonight. Lots of veteranos were there tonight that were involved in the student walkouts in the 1960s. They said this is the worse they have ever seen it, even worse that the civil rights movement of the 60s.

And all of this conflict of Ethnic Studies is created by Mark Stegeman and John Pedicone.

It is a crisis that need not exist, but exists solely through the stubbornness of Mark Stegeman and the racially insensitive (or just flat out racist) leadership of the Vice President of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council. For myself, SALC’s reputation has been forever tarnished, and I want nothing at all to do with anything they do. From urban renewal and destroying La Calle, to destroying Mexican-American Studies today, this is not the kind of “leadership” I want leading us.

I have many thoughts, and I will explore them in more detail tomorrow, but I will leave this with one final thought for tonight.

John Pedicone needs to resign.

--------------finally,from Panleft's youtube channel, the Tucson PD at it's best--------

Stop the HATE! Spring Break at AZ State Capitol!

Phoenix student walk-out, Arizona State Legislature. March 4, 2011.

Spring Break at the Arizona State Capitol begins Monday

MARCH 14, 2011

11:30am AZ State Capitol
1700 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Tucson Citizen
by Three Sonorans
on Mar. 10, 2011

As college students prepare for Spring Break next week, and as colleges face 20% budget cuts next year, Arizonans from around the state will be at the State Capitol from Monday to Friday of next week.

The state legislators have not done their most important job, and that is to balance the budget.

Instead they have been distracting the citizens of this great state with all these bogus and unconstitutional bills, everything from having guns in public buildings and universities, to forming the Arizona Rangers, a secret police force for Jan Brewer, a state border wall to be built with detained immigrants, huge 9 digit corporate tax cuts, anti-union bills, and of course the regular slew of anti-immigrant bills.

Arizona have had enough and say YA BASTA!

Caravans will be converging on the state capitol at noon on Monday.

In Tucson we will be meeting at Rudy Garcia Park, on Irvington and 6th Ave, at 8:30am and leaving promptly at 9pm. On Sunday evening from 5-7pm we will be having a sign-making party for our vehicles and person once we get to the capitol at Fortin de las Flores, on the Southeast corner of 31st and 6th Ave.

Russell Pearce first banned Latino activists, then the public, then the media from the senate building. He also took out the concrete/stone benches at the state senate building to tell Arizonans “you are not welcome here, you do not have a voice in your democracy.”

As a special bonus, former President George W. Bush will be visiting the area on Wednesday.

Come join the rest of the people that have had enough, and let your voice be heard!

Many people in Phoenix are opening up their homes for those who need a place to sleep or shower as protesters keep a 24 hour presence to tell Russell Pearce and the nation to stop the hate, fix the state, and BALANCE THE BUDGET!

Our jobs, schools, healthcare, and future depend on it!

For the latest info you can join the Facebook event page in English here, or in Spanish here. Anyone Tweeting from the Capitol will be using the hashtag #AZM14 and #AltoArizona for the Spring Break at the Capitol weeklong event.

----------------------




posted by activistausa

---------------------

Photos below are from the March 4, 2011 Phoenix student walk-out, where several hundred youth converged on the Capitol protesting the recent anti-immigration laws...

Stay tuned for a week long demonstration at the legislature now. :)

If you can't get to the capitol for any of the demonstrations there this week, try a little anarchy and autonomous action- it only takes one person to make resistance visible, and you can orchestrate something from wherever you are: put a sign on your car, or street corner, or chalk the sidewalks in choice places in your own town (or all of the above, so they think there's more than just one of you out nuts there). It's the conversations with ordinary people walking by that you have and generate about politics in the grocery store parking lot that will in time make a difference.



Better yet, find a place where you're likely to be seen by undocumented youth, and make sure they see your signs of solidarity. Your message will inspire and encourage them at a time when the state is legislating hate in their direction. I run into one of the McCain DREAM Fasters, Carlos, at these demonstrations and still get a big hug every time.

I kind of like the"Phoenix Point of Pride" signs with the image of the Arizona flag on it, like this one at Wes Bolin up at the Capitol. Just make sure to stay on the public sidewalks, keep it relatively clean for the kids there (their teachers will use your action as a chance to discuss the 1st Amendment, if they're any good), and don't deface any memorials, or you'll make us all pay for it.

"The rope that lynches" in the Deep Southwest.

Happy Martin Luther King Day, Arizona!

To the rest of America:
Please boycott this racist state before our fear and hate kill anyone else.

Tucson School Board meeting, January 2011.






Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/WhatABCs for more on the state's continuing efforts to "stop La Raza...", and the lame new state Superintendent of Education leading it. The old superintendent behind HB 2281 is our new Attorney General. See, you just can't get into state executive office here without exploiting fear, racism, and hate - then you can help outlaw your opposition, and insure that your offspring inherit the state.

Anyway, as I said, Happy Martin Luther King Day. Youth like Westli are our greatest hope.