Raising taxes in Arizona requires a two-thirds vote of the state Legislature.
By Stacey Barchenger || The Arizona Republic
Arizona’s candidates for governor Katie Hobbs and Kari Lake shared their plans for economic growth and tax policy in a forum Wednesday night, the first event featuring both candidates since each won their party’s nomination.
Tensions between the candidates, and their contrasts on policy and personality, were center stage in the hour-long event hosted by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The powerful business advocacy organization is an ally of outgoing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
Hobbs, a Democrat and Arizona’s secretary of state, said she would be ready to lead the state on her first day, if she were elected governor, thanks to her decade serving as an elected legislator and in her current post.
Lake, a Republican and former television news anchor, portrayed herself as an outsider who would surround herself with qualified aides.
Even as she blasted the media, a frequent foil of hers on the campaign trail, she said her experience covering a variety of stories prepared her to lead.
The forum allowed each candidate roughly 20 minutes on stage alone to field questions submitted by chamber members, an arrangement that Chamber President and CEO Danny Seiden said “was a decision made by the Chamber, not influenced by either candidate or campaign team.”
No Arizona governor debate: Katie Hobbs won’t take stage with Kari Lake
On taxes
Seiden, who asked questions at the event at Republican National Distributing Company in Phoenix, cited Hobbs’ support of Proposition 208 — a tax increase to fund education that Arizona voters approved in 2020 but was struck down this year after a lengthy court battle — and asked if she would advocate for higher taxes.
“Absolutely not. I am pro-growth,” Hobbs said. “And I want to be clear that my disappointment at that ruling was more about the years of efforts that our teachers and parents put into trying to increase funding for education. And many times they’re shut out of the conversation in those discussions.”
Hobbs noted that raising taxes in Arizona requires a two-thirds vote of the state Legislature.
“I like the answer, I feel like it’s a little bit of a slogan, I couldn’t raise taxes even if I wanted to,” Seiden pushed Hobbs.
“Not on the table,” she replied.
Lake said, as governor, she would be “for lowering taxes every place that we can.”
