The Arizona Republic ran a front page article highlighting the surge in lottery ticket sales. According to the article, in FY2011, the state sold $584 million worth of tickets - the most ever. In this downtrodden economy, one might surmise that the spike in sales is...

Let's hope this isn't an indication of where things are headed in the next legislative session, or even moderately reflects Gov. Brewer's position. As reported in the Arizona Capitol Times: Arizona Commerce Authority CEO Don Cardon (no relation to Wil) offered...

Bill Gates' straight talk on solar subsidies was refreshing and spot on. Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and from an interview in Wired magazine. [Chris] Anderson: When you look at the big picture [for the future of energy], where should we be focusing besides...

Narrowly targeted tax incentives like those for ethanol producers are really just spending items, the expenses of which could just as easily appear on the spending side of the federal budget ledger. This is why the elimination of these credits should not require an...

At the state level, the Arizona Free Enterprise Club led the charge against targeted tax incentives for movie-makers. No longer do Arizona taxpayers have to pay movie makers to make movies. The federal government should follow this lead. Call them by any variety of...

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This morning, the US Supreme Court struck down Arizona's "matching funds" provision in the Clean Elections law by a 5-4 decision. You can read the opinion here. The case is Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett.

Americans for Tax Reform wanted to sum up the debate about ethanol subsidies as a tax increase vs. the status quo. If you voted for Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) amendment to end the $5 billion a year subsidy for ethanol producers, you support higher taxes. Coburn's...

The lingering feud between Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, was punctuated last night when Coburn's amendment to end ethanol subsidies failed to garner the necessary 60 votes in the Senate. Coburn says he won because 34 of...

I don't mind spirited debates over whether varying kinds of tax cuts have an effect on economic growth, job growth, or any other kind of growth. It is a factual statement that high taxes impede growth while low taxes do not (would you work if the tax rate was 100...

Democrats in Arizona only hold nine seats of thirty in the Senate and 20 of 60 in the House. But if recent reports are to be believed, the GOP-dominated legislature is about to pass a package perhaps unanimously supported by the left. A special session of the...

State Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Phoenix) wrote in the Arizona Republic that despite voters approving a sales tax increase to fund schools, Republicans cut school funding while "handing out tax cuts for corporations and special interests." Sinema's angst over the budget...