A strong economy is a key piece of the foundation for any society. But while the Biden administration has been busy doing anything it can to destroy the economic climate in America over the past four years, Arizona is set up for success—not just for today, but for decades to come.
Last month, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released its latest “Rich States, Poor States” report, and the Grand Canyon State received the number three ranking for economic outlook among all 50 states. Such a high rank is impressive enough on its own, but when you consider that our state was ranked 13 back in 2021, Arizona’s dramatic rise up the chart especially shines. So, how did we get here?
Pro-Growth Policies Have Led the Way
Arizona’s high ranking is a direct result of significant pro-growth income and property tax reform that have supercharged our economy. In just the last decade, we have cut taxes on capital gains and drastically reduced the property tax burden on small businesses. Then, in July 2021, the Free Enterprise Club helped lead the charge as the Republican-led legislature passed a 2.5% flat tax, delivering historic tax cuts for every single Arizona taxpayer. And if that wasn’t enough, Republicans also included tax relief for Arizona’s families in last year’s state budget to help with the growing cost of gas, groceries, housing, and energy under the Biden administration.
Each of these pro-growth policies have set up Arizona as a leader in the country with many other states looking to mirror these reforms, but if the left had gotten its way, we never would have been here.
In between dodging questions about why she won’t debate Kari Lake and holding school choice funds hostage, Katie Hobbs has been making some curious campaign promises lately. And none have been more suspect than what she claims is her current position on tax hikes.
After dragging her feet on the issue, Hobbs finally made her stance known last month when she declared that she has no plans to raise taxes if elected governor. Then, like a good Democrat who promises everything under the sun, she took it one step further, claiming that she would cut taxes for 800,000 Arizona families.
But anyone who has followed Hobbs’ political career knows that this is just another outrageous lie. During her time in the state legislature, Katie Hobbs regularly opposed tax cuts for families while making it a habit to support multiple tax hikes.
As one of the longest legislative sessions in Arizona history comes to a close, we come to the customary conclusion that no one is totally happy with the results. That is to be expected. No individual or group of individuals should expect to get all they want.
However, this session fell considerably short of conservative goals in several areas. Most prominent among these were election integrity and balance of power. Balloting irregularities and dictatorial executives are anathema to good governance.
Still, we did not do so badly considering the current composition of our legislature. Hopefully, that composition may be improved during the next election cycle.
Two areas in which we did better than many had expected were the budget and tax reform. But these are precisely the two areas in which we are getting tremendous pushback from organizations that support unionism, socialism, and radicalism (please excuse the redundancy).
One major radical group is Save Our Schools Arizona. They are already calling for a citizen’s initiative to undermine the hard-earned progress we made in the areas of budgeting and taxation.
In fact, Save Our Schools AZ, in their June 28 Legislative Report made the following outrageous, irresponsible, and patently false statements:
“The Bad: House lawmakers passed a K-12 budget bill packed with myriad attacks on schools and teachers.” And…
“The Brutally Awful: Both the House and Senate passed identical bills pushing Arizona’s largest tax cut in history into law”.
Let us evaluate the second claim first. It should be pointed out that whenever these radical organizations bitch and moan about “tax cuts” they are bitching and moaning about “tax cuts for the rich”. They don’t bitch and moan about the portion of the tax relief that helps low- and middle-class taxpayers. With that in mind let us look at the overall taxation of the rich, to determine whether this is a giveaway to the wealthiest among us, or simply a much-needed tax relief to prevent job providers from fleeing Arizona.
Marginal income tax rate paid by the wealthiest Arizonans:
Before Prop 208
4.5%
After Prop 208
8.0% (4.5% + 3.5%)
After Tax Relief
6.0% (2.5% + 3.5%)
Can someone, with a straight face, explain how going from a 4.5% tax rate to a 6.0% tax rate constitute a “tax cut”? Tax relief would be a much better name for it.
It should also be noted that there is nothing in the omnibus tax relief tax relief bill (SB1828), or in any of the budget reconciliation bills to remotely suggest that the Education industry will not get their 3.5%. This brings us to addressing the other claim made by the Save Our Schools cabal.
The only way that a thinking person can agree with the SOS’s claim that the legislature gave us a “K-12 budget bill packed with myriad attacks on schools and teachers” is to conclude that a whopping 24% increase in funding constitutes “myriad attacks”. Let us look at some numbers taken from the JLBC’s and the Governor’s websites:
FISCAL YEAR
TOTAL BUDGET
EDUCATION BUDGET
2021
$11.5 BILLION
$6.7 BILLION ($5.0 B K-12 + $1.7 B HIGHER ED)
2022
$12.8 BILLION
$8.2 BILLION ($6.2 b K-12 + $2.0 B HIGHER ED)
While the overall budget went up by a relatively modest 11%, the education budget increased by 22%, and the K-12 portion increased by 24%.
Under this new budget, the portion allocated to education is 64%, leaving only 36% for healthcare, law enforcement, border security, street repairs, infrastructure, etc.
The SOS and other groups that claim to support students should be praising our legislature and thanking them for their generosity, instead of plotting to undermine their work via mob rule.
President Ronald Reagan once said, “You can’t be for big government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy.”
Well, in Arizona, we are fighting for the little guy. We’re reducing the size of government, slashing regulations and cutting taxes.
The pandemic left no one in America untouched, but today, Arizona is open for business and our economy is thriving.
During the pandemic, many Americans from ultra-liberal states that embraced lockdowns relocated to Arizona so their kids could still go to school in person and their small businesses could survive. Hundreds of companies are moving or expanding here. And when these companies relocate to Arizona, they’re bringing high-paying jobs.
There’s a reason that Arizona has become a beacon of economic prosperity. People and companies are tired of burdensome overregulation and high taxes, and they’re moving their operations to a place that embraces free enterprise.
David Cook is a Republican politician elected to serve in the Arizona House of Representatives from the 8th Legislative District. Representative Cook was elected to the State House in 2016 and represents central and eastern Pinal County and southern Gila County. He currently is in opposition to tax reform.
When alerted that a postcard campaign was taking place on Wednesday the 16th to encourage him to listen to the stories of hardworking Arizonans that need tax relief he did provide the following social media tweets (@RepDavidCook), “ …Yes – “we” the people- not any one person, one party, one county- “We the people” of Arizona. Those of us that are truly conservatives – saving the taxpayers – Billions (or trying to) and paying off those debts – not kicking them down the road – for future generations.” A public school teacher then asked, for him to support the flat income tax rate. Now, more than ever we need tax relief. He replied, “How much are your HOA fees a year?” The response, “Respectfully, we don’t have HOA fees, we have Biden penalties.” Silence
Arizonans need to call Representative David Cook (LD8) 602-926-5162 and voice your stories about how hardworking citizens need tax relief. Tax relief is any government program or policy initiative that is designed to reduce the amount of taxes paid by individuals or businesses. This is the time to return money to taxpayers, not leave it in the hands of the government.
Catherine Barrett, an Arizona Master Teacher, has been called “the bravest teacher advocate in the state” by educators and lawmakers. She holds Masters degree in Education and had been teaching for 19 years.
