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Summarizes supply-side economic theory and the Laffer Curve, reviews the tax burden in Arizona after nearly 25 years of tax reductions passed by the Arizona Legislature, and examines the effects of these tax reductions on economic performance and public revenue. Empirical evidence indicates that economic performance in Arizona has not been stronger since the tax cuts went into effect and that public revenue has fallen substantially.
After receiving his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Toledo, Tom earned his Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University in 1976. After working in the private sector, he joined ASU in 1980, working for the predecessor of the L. William Seidman Research Institute. Since 2005, he has served as manager of research initiatives in the Office of the University Economist.
An update to the November 2022 paper that presented data through 2021, estimates are presented of the number of ASU graduates working in Arizona, as well as their average wage, aggregate wages, and tax payments. Estimates are made for each year from 2012 through 2022.
The spending of Arizona State University and its employees, students, and visitors in fiscal year 2023 had the following direct, indirect, and induced impacts on the Arizona economy: gross product of $5.75 billion, labor income of $3.58 billion, and employment of 56,930.
Since the early 1990s, the Arizona Legislature has repeatedly reduced tax rates and narrowed tax bases of revenue sources used by state government — particularly of those sources providing revenue to the general fund. The tax reductions usually were passed with the…