Opinion: Arizona has so much revenue coming from new residents that it can afford to boost education funding even with lower tax rates. If lawmakers are smart, they’ll oblige.
By Robert Robb | Arizona Republic
I believe the folks trying to increase the state’s highest individual income tax rate have been treated poorly by Arizona’s political and legal systems.
Proposition 208, which would have increased the state’s top marginal rate from 4.5% to 8% with the proceeds earmarked for K-12 education, won at the ballot box. Since then, it has been eviscerated and nullified by the Legislature and the Arizona Supreme Court.
Despite the unfair treatment, recent income tax data indicates just how fortunate the state is not to have Proposition 208’s high income tax rate. Which, in a way, also underscores the importance of the Legislature appropriating the additional funds Proposition 208 would have produced for K-12 education from the gargantuan surplus the state enjoys.
Arizona got a ton of cash from people moving here
Each year, the Internal Revenue Service publishes income tax migration data: how many tax filers moved from one state to another and how much in adjusted gross income they took with them.
