What To Make Of The Recently Adopted Arizona State Budget

by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jun 23, 2024 | Opinion

By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |

Last weekend, the Arizona legislature completed its constitutional duty and finally passed a state budget, concluding its business for the year. Looming over the entire process was a budget deficit that needed to be filled—fluctuating from around $1.6 billion to just over $2 billion over the 3-year budgeting period.

Though the left and the media wanted to blame historic tax cuts and landmark school choice expansion for the shortfall, the real problem was record spending that resulted in Arizona’s budget growing by over 50% in the last five years. So, when lawmakers gaveled into session in January, the solution was to right-size state spending. Our organization even provided a roadmap for a successful budget process:

1. Cut spending to align with current and future funding projections
2. Don’t raid the rainy-day fund
3. Don’t use budget gimmicks to balance the sheets
4. Don’t roll back our school choice programs
5. Don’t raise taxes

So how did the legislature do? Here is a breakdown of the good and the not so good results from the budget:

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