Lawmakers Cut Taxes Despite Revenue Projections

Published: Friday, April 25, 2014 - 11:38am

Arizona lawmakers approved an unbalanced budget during their just-completed session, but that did not stop them from cutting taxes again.

That’s important because the state is scheduled to spend $9.2 billion next fiscal year, despite forecasts of only $8.7 billion in revenue.

The difference is to be made up by draining what’s left from the state’s temporary one-cent sales tax.

Even so, lawmakers approved hundreds of millions in new tax breaks and credits.The governor’s budget analyst is predicting faster economic growth and Gov. Jan Brewer says she is not buying the idea there’s a deficit in Arizona’s future.

“When I became governor, we came in with a plan and that plan has worked, and it will continue to work as long as it is continued out,” Brewer said.

Economist Jim Rounds says the state has done a good job of making itself more competitive with lower taxes, but Arizona State University economist Dennis Hoffman thinks Arizona’s tax cut train has maxed out.