NEWS UPDATES
Arizona Covid19 Update: State Budget and Executive Orders
Amid the chaos of the Covid19 pandemic, Arizona lawmakers have proceeded with conducting the state’s business. Monday March 23rd, the legislature officially passed an $11.8 Billion budget as well as a targeted Coronavirus relief package. They then...
Senator Kyrsten Sinema Pushes for Liberal Wish List in Coronavirus Relief Package
Over the weekend Republicans and Democrats in Washington were working toward an agreement on a Coronavirus relief package to assist businesses and employees being hammered by the economic shutdown. A bipartisan deal was close until at the last second Democrats moved...
HB 2409 Would Exempt Wealthy Investors from Paying Income and Capital Gains Tax
As usual, bad ideas at the legislature just don’t seem to die. Lawmakers are considering legislation to expand the “Angel Investment” Tax Credit Program, a scheme that would dole out millions to wealthy investors to subsidize their risky venture capital investments in...
Soak the Rich Income Tax Ballot Initiative is Back
In an attempt to capitalize on the Red4ED strikes in 2018, education advocates and teacher unions organized efforts to put a $700 Million income tax increase on the ballot. Dubbed the “InvestInEd” measure, the initiative purported to target this massive tax hike on...
APS Joins Forces with Tom Steyer to roll out Arizona Green New Deal
In 2018 Arizona Public Service spent over $30 million dollars fighting liberal billionaire (and Democrat Presidential Candidate) Tom Steyer and his effort to impose California-style green energy mandates on Arizona ratepayers. They weren’t the only ones fighting...
Swampy D.C Program Rampant With Fraud, Being Pushed in Arizona.
Every legislative session, lawmakers are duped by rosy tax credit programs, sold as either robust jobs programs or silver bullets to our social woes. This year HB2732, sponsored by Representative Ben Weninger, is being sold as both. The Low-Income Housing Tax...
New Study Shows Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program Fails at Delivering Affordable Housing in Arizona
Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club released a new study evaluating the cost of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in Arizona and Washington and how LIHTC have performed compared to other government backed housing affordability programs. The review determined...
2020 Democrat Tax Hike Plan: $5.73 BILLION DOLLARS
For years Democrats have complained that virtually every government program in Arizona is underfunded because of all the “draconian” tax cuts that have occurred. Given that most national rankings show Arizona is middle of the pack among states when it comes to overall...
Pro-Growth Recommendations on Rolling Back Tax Increases
As the Club highlighted last week, through a combination of economic growth and tax and fee increases, Arizona is likely to have a budget surplus this year approaching $1 Billion dollars. Adding to this figure was news announced on Friday that the state expects to...
Tale of Two Districts: Parents Fleeing Phoenix Union Turns K-12 Funding Narrative on its Head
Since 1994, when Arizona passed legislation to allow students to “open enroll” in a district school outside their boundary, families have been taking advantage of the power of school choice. Open enrollment’s popularity is evident when you consider approximately half...
Arizona Should Follow Trump’s Lead by Pushing for Transparency in Healthcare Costs
Strong hospital and insurance lobbies have long strived to block efforts in the state to give consumers more information about what health care services cost. Just last year, there was a bill at the legislature to require hospitals to provide the relative costs of...
Education Groups Demand More K-12 Funding While School Districts go on Administration Spending Spree
Here is an under-reported education fact: K-12 schools in Arizona have received over $1 Billion in new funding from the state over the last two years. This infusion of cash is the largest education spending increase in state history, boosting per pupil funding by 20...