Gov. Brewer’s ‘Arizona Comeback’ is now ‘Arizona’s Nightmare’

Someone should ask Governor Jan Brewer and the Tea-Publican leaders of the Arizona legislature “How’s that ‘Arizona Comeback’ coming along?Gov. Brewer’s ‘Arizona Comeback’ is a lie.

Arizona looks more like the disaster that Governor Sam Brownback’s Kansas is every day thanks to Tea-Publican religious devotion to faith based supply-side “trickle” down GOP economics that has been entirely disproved and discredited in real-world experience.

GroverNorquistGovernor Brewer is leaving a train wreck of an economy and state budget to her successor. And “Cathi’s Clown” Doug Ducey promises to double-down on her failed “trickle down” experiment by reducing Arizona’s income tax to as close to zero as possible, eliminating 40% of state revenues that are already far short of what is needed for the state to meet its basic obligations.

Governor Brewer’s so-called “Arizona Comeback” is now “Arizona’s Nightmare.” State’s financial picture dims:

The state could run a budget deficit this year of more than a half-billion dollars, and things only look worse the following year, as Arizona’s sluggish economy produces lower-than-expected tax revenue.

Revenue projections provided Tuesday to the Legislature’s Finance Advisory Committee show the state will end this budget year with a $520 million deficit and up to $1 billion deficit in the coming fiscal 2016.

The projections “can be summed up in two words: reality check,” said Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Kavanagh is one of the Tea-Publican leaders most responsible for our economic train wreck. Voters would be damn fools to reward this hack with another term in the legislature. Voters need to elect his opponent, Paula Pennypacker.

Those figures reflect an increase in funding for the K-12 school system, as the state Supreme Court has ruled is required to account for inflation costs. Even if state lawmakers delay a court order to raise base funding for schools, the deficit next year will be $667 million, more than the balance in the state’s rainy-day fund.

Budget projections do not include money for any new programs, only funding for enrollment growth in certain areas such as schools, prisons and health care.

The state Constitution requires lawmakers to produce a balanced budget, so the committee’s conclusions set the stage for tough decisions by the new Legislature and governor when they convene in mid-January.

Tuesday’s report pointed to sluggish economic growth and slumping tax collections as the main reasons for the grim budget outlook. The Legislature’s current budget assumed revenue would grow by 5.3 percent; after three months, growth has hit only 3 percent.

Further complicating the state’s financial picture is the phase-in of $226 million in corporate [welfare] tax cuts approved by the Legislature in 2011. Those cuts are slated to begin in July and are projected to cost the state $100 million in revenue in the first year.

One member of the advisory committee cautioned lawmakers about the corporate tax credit for donations to private-school tuition programs. The popular credit is allowed to grow 20 percent a year.

Georganna Meyer, a former state Department of Revenue official and now a private consultant, said the credit is “bleeding” corporate income-tax collections.

“There needs to be a cap put on this,” she said. “It’s crazy.”

Lawmakers also have to wrestle with how to address the Supreme Court ruling to increase school funding. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled a year ago that the state shorted public schools during the Great Recession by not fully covering inflation costs.

The court sent the case back to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper to work out payment details. Cooper in August issued a judgment requiring the state to boost funding to public and charter K-12 schools to catch schools up to where they should be under a voter-approved funding formula.

On Tuesday, the lower-court judge, who is handling negotiations over how to settle the payments to the state, rejected a request from lawmakers to put a hold on her ruling that base funding for the schools must increase this year.

The amount in additional funding is $336 million, up from the previous estimate of $317 million.

Our lawless legislature, of course, will file an appeal to delay the day they have to pay the judgment.

2 thoughts on “Gov. Brewer’s ‘Arizona Comeback’ is now ‘Arizona’s Nightmare’”

  1. you forgot another biggie, the ALCU vs ADOC that is going to trial. if the state loses that case then add up to another $200 million or so to the bill.

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