State Budget

https://chamberbusinessnews.com/2020/11/23/atraconference/

Arizona’s economy is recovering at a much faster pace than predicted at the height of COVID-19.

While there are potential setbacks on the horizon, the economic outlook ahead looks surprisingly bright, state and national economists and budget analysts said Thursday at the annual conference of the nonprofit Arizona Tax Research Association (ATRA).

Arizona's finances appear to be in solid shape headed into the new year. But Republican state lawmakers say that's no reason to start spending more money.

At the annual Arizona Tax Research Association conference last week, Joint Legislative Budget Committee Director Richard Stavneak said Gov. Doug Ducey and the Legislature can expect to kick off the legislative session and budget process in January about $555 million in the black. He estimated $218 million of that could be used for ongoing new expenditures without putting the state into a financial hole.

SCOTTSDALE — With the state potentially sitting on $1 billion, Gov. Doug Ducey put down his marker Friday to use some of that to cut income taxes.

In a speech to the Arizona Tax Research Association, Ducey boasted of signing legislation earlier this year that indexed the state’s income tax brackets. The net effect was to ensure that someone whose salary increased no faster than inflation was not bumped into a higher tax bracket.

But he said he’s not done.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/20/arizona-tax-group-to-he…
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Gov. Doug Ducey said Friday that a law he signed earlier this year indexing income tax rates for inflation was an important first step to his goal of cutting incomes taxes every year he’s in office.

Steller: Arizona could raise revenue, cut less
http://tucson.com/steller-arizona-could-raise-revenue-cut-less/article_…

January 31, 2015 7:11 pm • By Tim Steller
In his first week on the job, Gov. Doug Ducey projected a sense of crisis wrapped in a can-do attitude for solving it.

http://www.kpho.com/story/27928621/educators-question-prison-funding-ov…

PHOENIX (CBS 5) -
It's no secret Arizona schools rank near the bottom nationwide when it comes to money spent on students.

Its one of the reasons Gov. Doug Ducey is proposing a $134 million boost to classroom funding in his latest budget proposal.

When the Legislature wrapped up its work last summer, members knew when they returned in 2015 they would face some difficult budget issues.
At the time, the projected deficit for the 2015 budget year was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That projection has grown, with the red ink an expected $1 billion in the budget year starting in July.
Arizona’s Constitution requires that the budget to be balanced each year, and the first go at it will come from Gov. Doug Ducey.

OP learns lessons from Sam Brownback's tax scare
Republicans once idolized the tax-cutting superstar; now they look askance at him.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/gop-learns-lessons-from-brownback…

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/11/17/ducey-a…

Gov.-elect Doug Ducey will take office in January and immediately have to respond to a growing state budget crisis.

According to legislative budget staff, Arizona faces a possible $520 million budget shortfall this fiscal year and a $1 billion shortfall next fiscal year. State law requires the governor to present a budget proposal to the Legislature by Jan. 16.

Gov. Jan Brewer speaks proudly of her role in lifting the state out of the massive deficit she inherited in 2009. And with her final budget proposal, she seems intent on making sure her successor doesn’t have to say the same thing.

The governor’s budget defied expectations that she would use her final year in office to significantly increase spending for K-12 schools, higher education and other areas. Instead, Brewer took a more modest approach intended to keep new spending relatively low so the state’s budget will be structurally balanced by fiscal year 2016.