AFT Blasts Budget Proposal

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Arizona Federation of Taxpayers Slams Legislators’ $9.9 Billion 'Rollercoaster' Budget

Plan Would Return Fewer Than 1 in 4 Surplus Tax Dollars to Taxpayers

May 13, 2006

PHOENIX—The Arizona Federation of Taxpayers (AFT) blasted the proposed $9.9 billion budget package announced Thursday by legislative leaders, calling it “reckless.” The proposed budget is 13 percent higher than last year’s budget. According to AFT, that means that Arizona government would grow almost twice as fast as Arizonans’ personal income, and almost three times as fast as trend line growth in population plus inflation.

“Arizona’s legislative leaders are engaged in rollercoaster budgeting,” said AFT executive director Tom Jenney. “They’re setting Arizona up for a huge budget crisis when revenues dry up during the next recession. The state will be forced to choose between massive cuts in services and massive tax increases.” As for the proposed “one-time” expenditure of $350 million on transportation projects, Jenney said, “Spending is spending. If they want to spend more on transportation, they should cut spending in other areas. The surplus should be returned to taxpayers. Under the plan, fewer than one in four surplus tax dollars would go back to the people who earned it. That’s pathetic.”

From 1997 to 2002, Arizona state government grew rapidly, at an average of seven percent, and as quickly as 13 percent in 1999. During the 2002 recession, faced with revenue shortfalls, the state cut spending by five percent. Since 2003, spending increases have been even more rapid, averaging 11 percent.

AFT has been a longtime supporter of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), also known as the Budget Stabilization Act, which would limit the growth of government to the rate of population growth plus inflation.

“Reporters keep asking us if TABOR is going away,” said AFT chairman Chad Kirkpatrick. “As long as Arizona’s politicians keep passing reckless budget increases, TABOR will continue to gain support among the grassroots.”