NEWS UPDATES
Democrats Vote in Lockstep for Higher Taxes and Fees on Arizona Families
Even with a billion-dollar budget surplus and record state revenues, Democrats in the Arizona legislature were united in their cause to raise taxes and fees on hardworking families. How big was their tax hike push? Every Democrat in the State Senate and House voted...
City of Phoenix Wastes Billions on Light Rail & Neglects Shoddy Roads
For years city politicians, developers and contractors have misled voters on the waste and damage created by the multi-billion-dollar expansion of light rail. They have concealed the true cost of light rail from voters in previous transportation measures by tying...
Free Enterprise Club and Buckeye Institute Release Cost-Benefit Analysis of Electric Vehicle Subsidies in Arizona
Phoenix, AZ (June 4th)–Today the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, in collaboration with the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute, released “It Ain’t Easy Being Green: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Electric Vehicles in Arizona.” The paper is a comprehensive...
Getting Conform and Reform Right
As the Club has covered for over a year, Arizona taxpayers are facing the largest income tax increase in state history if a proper federal tax conformity plan is not adopted by the legislature. The department of revenue estimates that the conformity tax increase would...
Arizona GOP Goes All-In on Job Killing Tax Hikes
The Arizona Republican Party has decided to become the party of tax hikes. Yesterday, party Chairwoman Kelli Ward announced that the GOP is officially backing an amendment to the Arizona Constitution to impose a permanent $500 Million dollar sales tax increase for...
AG Brnovich Tackling Corporate Welfare at ASU
For months now, the AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich and the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR, the governing body for Arizona State University) have been in embroiled in a hot legal battle over taxpayer subsidies for wealthy developers. At the center of the legal...
Why are Lawmakers Pushing Billions in Tax Hikes Despite Record State Revenues?
An interesting paradox has developed at the legislature this year. Even though state policymakers are sitting on record tax revenues and a robust Arizona economy, they seem more obsessed with tax increases than ever before. So far this session there are efforts by...
The Legislature Takes Aim at Election Integrity Reform
Every American, no matter their political party, should have a significant interest in the wholesale integrity of the election process. And yet the business of ensuring citizens voting is honest, clean and untampered with, has been a fiercely partisan issue,...
Arizona Should Allow More Health Insurance Options for Consumers
The individual health insurance market has been a roller coaster for consumers since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Last year, the average ACA plan rose 34 percent – pricing out many of the individuals who do not qualify for federal subsidies. ...
Legislature Must Act Quickly to Stop Conformity Tax Hike
For over a year, the Club has been urging policymakers to address the looming tax conformity crisis. After the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in Congress in 2017, it was realized that Arizona taxpayers could pay as much as $300 million more in FY2020 as a result...
Arizona Taxpayers Get Hit with New Vehicle License Tax
Lawmakers can’t say they weren’t warned. Last year, when the Arizona legislature proposed giving their taxing authority away to the Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), we fought hard to stop what the Club considered one of the worst...
Voters Will Finally Get a Say on Future of Light Rail in Phoenix
A group of Phoenix residents and business owners successfully submitted over 40,000 signatures to the city clerk yesterday to refer an initiative to the ballot to end the $1 Billion construction of future light rail projects. The committee held a press...