Phoenix mayoral candidate Wes Gullett has made immediate repeal of the city’s 2 percent food tax a central campaign theme, insisting there is money in the budget to make up for the annual $50 million potential loss in revenue.

To achieve that goal, he has offered a reform plan that relies on renegotiating labor contracts with the city’s seven employee unions and associations to make up for lost revenue. But he also has cited another way to cover repeal of the food tax – a more than $200 million “slush fund,” as he describes it, built into the city budget.
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