Public finance—taxes and other revenues collected by government and the expenditure of those revenues—always has been somewhat controversial because of wide philosophical differences among residents regarding the role that government should play in providing public services and in collecting taxes and fees from its residents. Recently, public finance in Arizona has become a prominent public issue due to the need to resolve the deficits that afflict state government and most county and municipal governments in Arizona.
The decennial census count for Arizona of 6,392,017 on April 1, 2010 is considerably less than the latest population estimates, which are for July 1, 2009. In this edition of Indicator Insight, author Tom Rex examines the possible reasons for the large census count discrepancy and its implications for Arizona.
Innovation—introducing something new—in the 21st century mostly derives from technological advances. Innovation drives the modern economy, leading to gains in productivity and prosperity. In this edition of Indicator Insight, author Tom Rex discusses innovation in Arizona in terms of human capital, financial capital, and high-technology employment.
Sampling error is very large for most Arizona counties in the American Community Survey. Read a nontechnical discussion of the accuracy of the ACS.
Sampling error is very large for most Arizona counties in the American Community Survey. Read a nontechnical discussion of the accuracy of the ACS.
Despite all of the spending reductions, fund transfers, and other techniques used to balance the budget in the preceding few years, Arizona’s general fund faces a massive deficit. This issue of Policy Points poses an important question: Are you content with the historically low expenditures being made from the general fund and satisfied that the current low level of public services will be permanent?
Keying off of the “Fiscal Framework for Arizona” panel discussion at Morrison Institute for Public Policy’s recent State of Our State conference, here is an analysis of Arizona’s economic performance since the beginning of the last recession compared to previous economic cycles nationally, primarily based on earnings and employment.
This follow-up to the 2001 landmark report, "Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona's Future," focuses on the projected future of the state if Arizona fails to address its Latino educational attainment gap. The publication is more of an economic impact statement than an education report, with indicators pointing out consequences and contributions, depending on action or inaction in closing the gap of Arizona's future workforce.
The transaction privilege tax (TPT), often referred to as the sales tax, is a major source of revenue for state and local governments in Arizona. The TPT is applied to numerous categories, such as contracting and utilities. The analysis in this paper is limited to the retail category, which accounts for half of the TPT collected by state government, and the restaurant and bar category, which contributes one-tenth of the TPT revenue.
Arizona's diverse population is always changing. Understanding the state's shifting demographics matters for good planning and effective policy making. This issue of Indicator Insight explores some of the major categories of demographic data available from the decennial census, the American Community Survey and other key sources.