PHOENIX -- U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl oppose Arizona's plan of a short-term sales-tax hike as a way to deal with the state's budget crisis.

Arizona lawmakers say the proposed one-cent sales tax increase going on a May 18 special election ballot would raise up to $900 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1. The plan is being pushed by Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican.

In a joint statement issued Monday, the two Arizona Republican senators said they fundamentally oppose increasing taxes on small businesses and working families.

Brewer said in her 28 years as an elected official, she's never before supported a tax increase; however, Arizona's massive budget deficit has to be resolved, which is why she advocates the temporary sales-tax hike.

The proposed budget already calls for hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to health care and education; without the passage of the sales-tax increase, the cuts will be far deeper, lawmakers said.