The state budget that lawmakers passed this year contains two record-breakers: the largest income tax cut in state history and the largest debt paydown in state history.
Lawmakers passed the historic tax cut as a response to Proposition 208, the Invest in Education initiative, to eliminate the burden that voters imposed on the highest earners. But bringing income taxes “as close to zero as possible” has also been a longstanding priority of Gov. Doug Ducey.
Lawmakers also paid down roughly $1 billion in debt. That up-front payment is supposed to save taxpayers more than $200 million per year in interest payments going forward.
To break down the state’s fiscal health and what these changes will mean for taxpayers, The Show spoke with Jim Rounds, an economist and president of Rounds Consulting.
