No new taxes, no new debt, no gimmicks
Republicans’ electoral victories this year are ushering in an era of fiscal conservatism. Whether the ideological mooring can withstand a multi-year, multi-billion dollar deficit remains to be seen.
Big tax cuts come back to haunt Arizona
Were you fiscally conservative or fiscally irresponsible? That’s the question I pose to any incumbent Arizona legislator now running for re-election (or other elected positions) on Nov. 4 who voted for the corporate and related tax-cut legislation in 2011 that is starting to burn a hole in the state’s budget.
A balanced budget… for now: Threat of lawsuits could undo spending cuts
Fiscally conservative Republicans won the argument when the governor agreed to forego borrowing and other budget gimmicks to help shore up the state’s sagging revenues, and the budget-slashing proposal was also a vindication for legislators who saw themselves as lone voices in the wilderness, warning for many years that politicians’ appetite for spending would one day come back to haunt them. [...]