AFP: Special Budget Session. Second the motion. All in favor?

Dear Arizona Taxpayer:

Steve Voeller of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club sent out a release yesterday (http://azfec.org/press/pr/pr-9-19-08.pdf), suggesting that the Governor call the Legislature into special session to deal with the budget. As AFP Arizona has explained to anyone who will listen, the FY2009 budget is the most unbalanced budget in Arizona history, and it is becoming more unbalanced with each day that passes. If nothing is done until January, we will start the new session in January with a deficit well in excess of $2 billion dollars (about $1,000 per Arizona household). At some point in the near future, with deficits as far as the eye can see, even non-liberal legislators will be sorely tempted to raise taxes (“find new sources of revenue”) to bridge the gap.

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/includes/filemanager/files/az/azgenfund0312senatebudgetfy09.pdf

There is a public-choice economic argument to be made for having a special budget session occur after the November 4^th election. The idea is that after the election, the Guv and legislators (including a few lame ducks) will be more likely to make tough decisions and vote their consciences, rather than pushing off tough decisions about budget reductions into the future (as the prevailing majority did back in June).

One problem with that argument is that many of the lame ducks—including Tom O’Halleran (R-Yavapai County), Pete Hershberger (R-Tucson/OV), and Jennifer Burns (R-Tucson/Cochise) DID vote their consciences back in June. Unfortunately for Arizona taxpayers, their consciences seem to be fiscally liberal, in favor of ever-expanding government…

More AFP Arizona blog posts available here:

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/index.php?page=blog&state=az

Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
(Arizona Federation of Taxpayers)
www.aztaxpayers.org
tjenney@afphq.org
(602) 478-0146