Former Gov. Jan Brewer Takes Current Gov. Doug Ducey To Task For Fiscally Irresponsible ‘Flat Tax’ Proposal

Oh God, she’s baaack!

In 2011, then Governor Jan Brewer signed off on then House Speaker Kirk Adams’ four year phased-in corporate welfare tax giveaway plan, while state revenues were still devastated from the Great Recession (2007-2009). Jan Brewer had initially opposed his plan in 2010 causing “Captain Kool-Aid,” Kirk Adams, a true believer in faith based supply-side “trickle down” economic theory, to pull the plug on his corporate welfare tax giveaway plan. Adams tried again in 2011, and this time Governor Brewer agreed to sign off on his bill.

As a result, Arizona did not formally match its pre-Great Recession employment levels until December 2016, closing a job hole that lasted eight years and lingered 19 months longer than the nation’s. At last, Arizona recovers from Great Recession.

Arizona “balanced” its state budget not by “trickle down” revenue growth from new business generated by these tax cuts, but rather from continuing to make deep cuts to public education, which have not been fully restored despite several court judgments against the state. ARIZONA’S UNRESTORED BUDGET CUTS (excerpt):

In fact, instead of prioritizing public education for funding, steep cuts have been made to our public schools since 2009.

It’s true that many states now provide less support per student than before the Great Recession. With fewer revenues coming in, tough choices had to be made.

But Arizona, which made some of the steepest cuts in the nation, is one of only a handful of states still cutting today, even in a steadily improving economy.

Did you know our state has cut $4.56 billion dollars to public schools since 2009? And those cuts haven’t been restored.

So Jan Brewer is a fine one to talk when it comes to taking Governor Doug Ducey to task on “fiscal responsibility.” Ducey is simply building upon the record of imprudent fiscal irresponsibility of Jan Brewer.

Note: “Captain Kool-Aid,” Kirk Adams served as Governor Ducey’s Chief of Staff (2014-2018), after a failed bid for Congress. Adams is rumored to be a potential candidate to succeed Governor Ducey in 2022. God help us.

Nevertheless, former Governor Jan Brewer takes Governor Doug Ducey to task for his proposed state budget this year, which includes the fantasy “flat tax” that Republicans have rejected several times before (including when Jan Brewer was governor).

Jan Brewer writes in the Arizona Republic, I proudly cut taxes as Arizona’s governor. But I’m against Ducey’s flat-tax plan now:

As our state leaders are toiling under the Copper Dome to finalize our 2022 state budget, some very prophetic words spoken by Warren Buffett are ringing in my ears:

“What we learn from history is that people don’t learn from history.”

We are at that moment, I am afraid.

With all the recent financial good news for Arizona – a rebounding economy, declining unemployment, record budget surpluses and $1 billion-plus in the rainy day fund – you might wonder: Why is Jan Brewer raising the yellow flag of caution?

Proposing to permanently eliminate a $1.9 billion annual revenue stream for Arizona should always bring great scrutiny, in-depth analysis and robust debate. But sadly, none of that is happening now.

It is a deal brokered in secret among just Republicans, and sprung upon the legislature at the last minute without committee hearings or any public input or debate. The goal is to ram it through, jam it through the legislature with just Republican votes to pass the budget with this radical “flat tax” add on before declaring sine die on this year’s legislative session. This is Arizona GQP authoritarianism writ large.

Instead, soundbites and feel-good tweets are carrying the day in an apparent rush to do something very big politically. There is an urgency framed squarely in the political dynamic of résumé padding as high offices are sought in the 2022 electoral sweepstakes.

Jan Brewer is calling out Doug Ducey for a potential senate bid in 2022, or his fantasy of running for president in 2024. Brewer knows that her “Dear Leader” Donald Trump will be the nominee of the Party of Trump, natch, unless prosecutors can convict him before then. Trump can’t run for president as a convicted felon. Ducey is making a bet on the success of the prosecutors.

There is already a lot of economic uncertainty

When I ascended succeeded to governor in 2009 [still thinks of herself as the Red Queen], I said in my inaugural address that it felt like I showed up at a giant party, where all the guests had left and I was handed the bill. Gov. Janet Napolitano had resigned and jetted off to join the Obama administration.

I got to stay and deal with a $3 billion deficit at the height of the Great Recession. Per capita, Arizona had the largest state budget deficit in the U.S.

Just 24 months earlier, the Napolitano administration enjoyed record state revenues and huge budget surpluses while enacting generous spending initiatives [and  a big tax cut in 2006 that Napolitano agreed to with Republican legislative leaders in an election year – she easily won reelection – hence the deficit by 2009]. Life was truly grand. [Jealous much?]

Remember what 2018-19 were like? Most say those years were also grand. [Whatcha talkin bout Willis?] But overnight, pandemic struck, businesses were forced to close, millions lost their jobs and more tragically, lost their loved ones. And that was just 2020.

In 2021 we have had devastating blackouts in Texas and a major gasoline pipeline shut down, causing Carter-era fuel shortages. Today, the markets are beginning to quake from the fear of inflation. And this is what we know. [You don’t know much, but what you watch from those idiots on Fox News, do you?]

The real fear is what we do not know, and the question should be, are we prepared?

What goes up must come down. Ask me how I know

Today, budget forecasts show the state ending fiscal 2021 with a $2.6 billion surplus. Remember, it was only 11 months ago these same forecasters predicted a $518 million deficit.

Hey, those federal COVID-19 relief bills really worked, didn’t they! That’s not how Trump-loving Jan Brewer sees it:

Much of this current surplus may be due to the irresponsible COVID-19 relief benevolence Arizona received by our Democratic Congress and President Biden. That plan has brought more than $15 billion of stimulus to all of Arizona.

FYI, the first two COVID-19 relief bills were passed when Republicans controlled the Senate and Donald Trump was president. Is senility setting in in your old age, Jan? Or are you still just a big liar? (I haven’t forgotten your headless bodies in the desert classic.)

History has taught me that it would be imprudent to base a large, permanent tax cut, worth $19 billion over the next decade, on a snapshot of revenue and expenditure forecasts artificially bolstered by the federal largesse.

But it was “truly grand” when I based it on the disproven and discredited faith based supply-side “trickle down” economics theory in 2011.

As noted, I have real experience with the adage that what goes up must come down.

Arizona still has some profoundly serious challenges in front of it: increasing teacher pay [despite Governor Ducey’s Prop. 123 lie, Arizona teachers still are among lowest paid in nation (Feb. 2021)], reducing classroom sizes and improving the state’s funding for our children and vulnerable.

Arizona has huge bills coming due soon.

There is a $30 billion funding gap over the next 25 years to maintain our vital transportation infrastructure. Not to mention we are still paying off Great Recession-era debt from the time I was governor, including $422 million on the leaseback of state office buildings and retiring $930 million in the K-12 education rollover.

Additionally, the state has nearly $2.8 billion in pension debt just with the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System.

Lost in the current income tax cutting fervor is the impact on local governments whose primary mission is to provide public safety.

In 1972, voters approved sharing 15% of income tax revenues to municipalities. They use their 15% share as a foundational revenue source to pay for their largest expense: police and fire.

So, for every $1,000 in income tax cuts the Legislature unilaterally makes, municipalities see a $150 cut to their budgets – cuts that can only be made up in their budgets dedicated to public safety.

OMG! Jan Brewer actually agrees with Julie Erfle, the former executive director of Progress Now Arizona? The GOP agenda: Reward the wealthy and defund the police. Someone has opened a rift in the space time continuum.

Do a one-time cut, not a permanent one.

I am not arguing against any tax reductions [of course not, Arizona Republicans have cut taxes every year since 1992]. Lord knows I have cut taxes with the best of them and am proud of it. I am arguing against any permanent large-scale tax reduction that leaves Arizona exposed to the next economic downturn.

This is disingenuous. Everyone knows that the Arizona Two-thirds For Taxes Amendment, Prop. 108 (1992), which requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature to increase state revenue through taxation, or to repeal tax credits or exemptions, has effectively rendered all Republican tax cuts since 1992 permanent, with rare exceptions. The temporary 1 cent-per-dollar sales tax earmarked for schools, transportation projects and human services that voters approved in 2010 expired in 2013, after voters rejected making it permanent in 2012.

History tells us it will come.

So, let’s focus first on retiring our remaining massive debts, increasing education funding even more, and maybe even give something back to the people of Arizona who make our state what it is.

As my mother always reminded me, “Doing the right thing almost always means doing the hard thing.”

To me, after navigating the Great Recession, this does not seem that hard: Enact a one-time tax rebate giving hard-working Arizonans some of their money back and save more of this fleeting surplus for our future. Remember, the rebate could always be renewed in future years if conditions warrant.

This is history heeded.

Did you catch the hypocrisy? After noting all the fiscal challenges facing the state, especially in public education, Jan Brewer can’t bring herself to say “just say no” to a tax cut, instead of restoring cuts to public education and other vital public services and infrastructure since 2008. She has learned nothing. Like all Arizona Republicans, she is still addicted to the annual tax cut gimmick, in good economic times or in the worst of economic times. They believe that a tax cut is a panacea for whatever ails you, despite being proven wrong time and time again.

The takeaway here is that former Governor Jan Brewer believes that current Governor Doug Ducey is being fiscally irresponsible by backing the Republican fantasy of a “flat tax,” which will only reduce state and local tax revenue for vital public services, and is an irresponsible benevolence to the wealthy, to borrow her turn of phrase.