ATRA in the News
Kevin McCarthy with the Arizona Tax Research Association said if a temporary one-cent sales tax being proposed isn't approved by voters this May, the cuts will run even deeper..."The state is in a multi-year budget problem and unless we deal with it straight ahead and effectively we're going to have budget deficits for years to come," McCarthy said.
Here and Now examined school budget override elections scheduled for March 9th. Host Steve Goldstein spoke to Tracey Benson of the Arizona School Boards Association and Justin Olson of the Arizona Tax Research Association. Goldstein also spoke with Goldwater Institute's Matt Ladner about schools making due with current funding levels.
Justin Olson, senior research analyst at the Arizona Tax Research Association, said school districts like Dysart will have real challenges going to the ballot this month. “In this case, the voters have already spoken with a very strong voice that they don't want this override,” Olson said.
Kevin McCarthy, president of the Arizona Tax Research Association, said his organization conceded last year that there was no way to balance the budget without some kind of tax increase, and that a sales tax increase is probably the most palatable way to do that. But he wants to see further spending cuts before he would consider supporting the tax increase.
Justin Olson, senior research analyst for the Arizona Tax Research Association, said the bill isn’t clear enough about how taxpayer money would be split between high school districts and higher-education programs. “We don’t want students to be double-counted when it comes to being funded by the state,” he said.
For Kevin McCarthy, president of the Arizona Tax Research Association, a watchdog group, the state is at a fiscal crossroads. After years of budgets that assumed an unsustainable growth, he said, lawmakers now rely on gimmicks that generate short-term cash but also involve long-term, interest-bearing debt.
Arizona's government is now well into its third year struggling with a historic budget deficit. Despite what many view as a requirement for the state to actually adopt a balanced budget, the state continues to spend billions more than we are collecting in ongoing revenue.
Kevin McCarthy, president of the Arizona Tax Research Association, said he is sympathetic to funding needs but argued that this is not the solution. "If this is approved, cities and counties will want it, too," he said. "You'll be setting a huge precedent."
But a taxpayer advocacy group said the city should at the very least use the extra money to pay off debt already incurred for the campus. Kevin McCarthy, president of the Arizona Tax Research Association, said the hotel purchase also highlights government tactics to spend money on projects not specifically approved by voters.
Tax watchdog organizations oppose easing the cap. "This bill will set a precedent that the reduction of that debt limit can be overlooked with a bill at the Legislature," said Justin Olson, senior research analyst for the Arizona Tax Research Association.
Kevin McCarthy, Arizona Tax Research Association president, said dropping the break for historic homes won't necessarily give more money to schools. Given the way state law apportions taxes, it could mean lower taxes for other homeowners who are now subsidizing their historic neighbors.
The Arizona Tax Research Association, a fiscally conservative organization once on record supporting the sales tax referral to the ballot, has since changed its position. Director Kevin McCarthy said the state has not done the hard work it needs to do to clamp down on spending, and he won't support any new revenues until that happens.
After adjusting for accounting tricks, state general-fund spending topped out at $10.5 billion in 2008, according to the Arizona Tax Research Association. After the last round of budget cuts, state general-fund spending is authorized at about $10 billion for this fiscal year, or a reduction of around 5 percent.
"We need at least four members of the Democratic caucus," Burns, R-Peoria, said late last week, after discussing the state budget at the annual tax watchdog luncheon of the Arizona Tax Research Association. He said he and other legislative leaders planned to spend the weekend looking for those votes.
The Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Tax Research Association had been readying for a bid to challenge the constitutionality of the district's levy to help bring schools into racial balance, preparing to argue that it's illegal to levy unlimited property taxes for an unlimited time without voter approval.
Experts say the economic downturn probably made voters think twice about approving many budget overrides... "There have been record job losses, record home foreclosures and apparently they're sending the message that they don't think government ought to be insulated either," said Justin Olson, senior research analyst...
"With the economic crisis facing Arizona serving as a painful reminder, Tucson taxpayers can be assured that, if approved, Proposition 200 will certainly force a tax increase at some future date," wrote McCarthy, who added that adopting spending programs via initiative tends to result in fiscal disasters.
By any measure, Proposition 200 will force increased spending that will either drive future tax increases or impact other city services. With the economic crisis facing Arizona serving as a painful reminder, Tucson taxpayers can be assured that, if approved, Proposition 200 will certainly force a tax increase at some future date.
Regardless of one's views on the amount of funding taxpayers provide districts and charter schools, most can agree that double counting results in an inequitable distribution of available resources and inappropriately favors those who game the system.
President Kevin McCarthy wrote that its support was contingent on the tax increase being used to cut the deficit, not pay for increased spending. McCarthy told our reporter that ATRA's board of directors was caught off guard by Brewer's vetoes last month.
PHOENIX—A prominent business advocacy group has withdrawn its endorsement of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal for a temporary sales tax increase to help balance the state budget.