As Arizona enters the second year of a pandemic that has strained the public health system and sent the unemployment rate skyward, Gov. Doug Ducey has unveiled a budget proposal prominently featuring a $200 million income tax cut.
His $12.6 billion spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 does not call for any major state-level changes to the unemployment insurance or rental aid programs many Arizonans have turned to for help over the past several months.
Instead — thanks to better-than-expected revenue projections that will allow Arizona to stave off deep and across-the-board cuts — it keeps nearly $1 billion in the state’s rainy day fund while leaning heavily on federal dollars to prop up state spending.