Tucson, Ariz. – At a press conference held earlier today, Jesse Kelly continued his assault on the middle class and made it clear he is sticking by his joblessness plan for Southern Arizona.

Kelly was joined at this press conference by out of work Southern Arizonans, or, as Kelly describes them, “the unproductive” who “sit on [their] couch and eat bon-bons.” (UA Republican Club Debate, 4/8/2010; Arizona Illustrated Debate, 7/30/2010)

Throughout the campaign, Kelly has called for an economic package that would devastate middle class families and seniors in order to cut taxes for corporations that send jobs overseas and the Wall Street CEOs whose abuses led to the financial crisis.

Kelly’s joblessness plan includes:

• Charging middle class families a 23 percent sales tax on food and medicine that will raise their overall tax burden by an average of $3,000 each year and cut taxes for millionaires by an average of over $40,000 each year.
• Letting corporations that send American jobs overseas stop paying income taxes altogether.
• Cutting a billion dollars from Arizona schools, which will deter new businesses from coming to Southern Arizona and leave our children unable to compete in the 21^st Century workforce.
• Opposing incentives to create tens of thousands of long-term, high paying jobs in Southern Arizona’s renewable energy industry.

“Jesse Kelly has no plan to create jobs,” said Giffords for Congress campaign manager Rodd McLeod. “If he feels real concern for Southern Arizonans who have lost their jobs, I don’t see why he would try to raise their taxes with his national sales tax scheme and let corporations that send jobs overseas stop paying income taxes at all.”

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Giffords’ record of investing in Southern Arizona

As a former small business owner, Gabrielle Giffords knows that the best economic stimulus is a job, and her first priority is to create and protect American jobs.

• Giffords voted to cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and supported over $800 billion in tax cuts for families and small businesses.
• She supports extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for working families – 98 percent of Americans.
• She brought more than $1.8 billion back to Arizona public schools in the past two years. Funding our children’s education is the single most important long-term investment Arizona can make in its economic future.
• She voted for the HIRE Act, which cuts taxes for businesses that hire unemployed workers and awards an income tax credit of $1,000 to businesses that retain these new employees.
• She introduced the Older Americans’ Workforce Agenda to help seniors get the jobs they want and give them the financial assistance they need if they choose to go back to school.
• She voted for the Small Business Lending Fund Act to establish a $30 billion fund to boost lending to small businesses looking to hire and expand their operations by providing additional capital to community banks.
• She is a nationally recognized champion for Southern Arizona’s renewable energy industry.  The worldwide market for power is over $6 trillion a year– there is a large and fast-growing demand for new, clean sources of electricity. Solar means tens of thousands of good jobs in Arizona and a competitive America worldwide.

Gabrielle Giffords is a third generation Southern Arizonan and the only person in Congress with an active duty military spouse. Gabrielle is not like other politicians. She takes an independent view on the issues and was rated Arizona’s most moderate member of Congress by the National Journal in 2009. She’s voted against a Congressional pay raise every time one has come up, and she doesn’t make earmark requests for campaign contributors. Most importantly, Gabrielle stands up for Southern Arizona by working across the aisle to secure the border, protect our military and veterans and create jobs by investing in solar energy.

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