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Ben Toma

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Ben Toma
55th Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
Assumed office
January 9, 2023
Preceded byRussell Bowers
Majority Leader of the Arizona House of Representatives
In office
January 11, 2021 – January 9, 2023
Preceded byWarren Petersen
Succeeded byLeo Biasiucci
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
Member of the Arizona House of Representatives 22nd district (2017-2023)
27th district (2023-present)
Assumed office
April 26, 2017
Preceded byPhil Lovas
Personal details
BornRomania
Political partyRepublican

Ben Toma is an American politician serving as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives for the 22nd district. Elected in November 2016, he assumed office in January 2017. Since January 2021, Toma has also served as majority leader of the Arizona House.

Career

Toma is a real estate broker.[1] He was appointed on a 5–1 vote to serve as a member of the Peoria, Arizona, city council in June 2014, when Cathy Carlat resigned to run for mayor. However, Toma was defeated in the special election in 2014.[2] He lost again in 2016.[3]

Arizona House of Representatives

In April 2017, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors appointed Toma to fill a vacant seat in the Arizona House of Representatives representing the 22nd legislative district, to replaced Phil Lovas, who resigned to accept a federal appointment with the Small Business Administration.[4] The Board selected Toma from a list of three nominees put forward by the Republican precinct committeemen.[5] The district includes parts of Peoria, Glendale, Surprise and Sun City West.[4][6] Toma took his seat in the final days of 53rd Legislature,[6] and was subsequently elected to a full term in the 2018 elections.[1]

In February 2019, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey vetoed a plan, supported by state legislators of his own Republican Party, for across-the-board cuts in the individual state income tax. Toma, as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, was an outspoken supporter of the tax-cut plan and an avowed opponent of tax increases.[7] Ducey, Toma and other Arizona Republicans subsequently agreed upon a $11.9 billion state budget deal that included $386 million in offsets to tax hikes, angering some Arizona schoolteachers who were supporting higher taxes to increase funding for public schools.[8] Toma had previously voted for historic salary increases for Arizona K-12 teachers.[9] In 2021, Toma, as House majority leader, was the key architect of the largest tax cut package in state history, as well as a separate bill that shielded high-earners from a 3.5% tax surcharge for education that had been approved by voters in the November 2020 election (Proposition 208). The package, brokered between Ducey and Republican legislators, passed on a party-line vote.[10][11] Toma initially proposed a flat tax, but was unable to garner enough votes to pass it after a single House Republican joined with all Democrats in opposing it.[12][13] Toma defended the plan's focus on tax cuts for high-earning taxpayers, contending that "They're the ones that tend to make the jobs and create the economic conditions that lead to economic improvement for the entire state."[13]

In 2022, Toma wrote and led passage of the nation's largest school choice expansion. Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, called the bill’s passage “the biggest school choice victory in U.S. history... Families will be able to take state funded education dollars to any education provider that meets their student’s curricular needs whether that be public, private, or a home-based educational option."[14]

References

  1. ^ a b "Maricopa County leaders pick new Arizona House member". April 26, 2017. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  2. ^ "Toma announces candidacy for Mesquite district seat". Peoria Times. June 3, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  3. ^ Hedden, Adrian (August 30, 2016). "Peoria City Council incumbents appear headed to victory". Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Jackson, Darrell (May 5, 2017). "Toma appointed to fill Lovas seat". Peoria Times. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  5. ^ Phil Latzman, Maricopa County Supervisors Select New Republican Lawmaker For Arizona House, Fronteras (April 26, 2017).
  6. ^ a b Mary Jo Pitzl, Peoria, Surprise and Sun Cities et new representative in Arizona Legislature, Arizona Republic (April 26, 2017).
  7. ^ Howard Fischer, Ducey vetoes tax plan, Capitol Media Services (February 2, 2019).
  8. ^ Bob Christie, Republicans defend tax cuts in face of teacher demands, Associated Press (May 21, 2019).
  9. ^ David Schwartz, Arizona governor signs bill to boost teachers' wages amid strike, Reuters (May 3, 2018).
  10. ^ Jonathan J. Cooper & Bob Christie, GOP-led Arizona Legislature OK's $1.9B income tax cut, Associated Press (June 25, 2021).
  11. ^ Bob Christie, Arizona GOP budget deal envisions massive income tax cut, Associated Press (May 18, 2021).
  12. ^ Ben Giles, Flat-Tax Proposal Fails In Arizona House, KJZZ (June 8, 2021).
  13. ^ a b Howard Fischer, Arizona House rejects flat-tax plan by one vote, Capitol Media Services, (June 7, 2021).
  14. ^ Robert Clarke, Arizona’s expansion of school choice earns national plaudits Chamber Business News, June 29, 2022.
Arizona House of Representatives
Preceded by Majority Leader of the Arizona House of Representatives
2021–present 		Incumbent
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