‘Hands Off Our Budget:’ Progressive groups demand lawmakers prioritize working families over billionaires

A people-first economy coalition gathered at the Arizona State Capitol last week to demand Republican lawmakers keep what progressive advocates call their pro-billionaire ‘Hands Off Our Budget,’ and stop sacrificing community prosperity and well-being at the altar of tax cuts for the rich. 

Every year, resources are directed away from essential services like education, healthcare, housing, and public safety—and budget decisions are made to prioritize the wealthy, said Stephanie Maldonado, political director for the Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE).

“Arizona communities deserve a budget that prioritizes the well being and the future of everyday people, not one that gives unprecedented tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations,” Maldonado said. “These realities directly hinder our community’s ability to flourish and grow.”

Progressive groups like ACE have lobbied for years for a state budget that supports working-class Arizonans,  and this year are again calling for investments in essential community services instead of providing tax breaks to billionaires and corporations.

Families continue to face mounting financial pressures while struggling to afford basic necessities, Maldonado said. These realities are not unique to Arizona; she believes the state’s battle for a working-class budget reflects “a consistent pattern” seen nationally, like in

federal budgets that prioritize the wealthiest class of Americans at the expense of the majority of the population.

Investing in all communities 

Maldonado emphasized the need to make equal, fair investments that provide opportunities for all Arizonans, without leaving behind any communities.  

Many Arizonans want to see continued investment in affordable housing—one of the biggest crises the state is facing. 

For Maria Blandon and her family, securing affordable housing when they moved to Arizona three years ago felt nearly impossible. Since then, housing costs have continued to rise rapidly, and they have had access to limited resources. 

They moved to the state seeking safety, stability, and better opportunities. “Navigating the system was overwhelming, particularly for first generation families like mine,” Blandon said.

Her family was able to stay with relatives while they searched for a more permanent place to live. Access to federal and state housing assistance programs helped them along the way, she told The Copper Courier. 

Now, her family has a place of their own, but they still feel burdened with housing costs.  

Blandon sees the lack of access to affordable housing and lack of access to housing assistance programs as the root cause of what holds people back from thriving in society—and investments in federal and state housing assistance programs can expand opportunities for families to get the help that they need. 

Now, as an ASU student, she’s seen how lack of housing affordability also impacts students and young people—especially first-generation students who have added responsibilities of helping their families economically. 

“Limited investment in affordable housing affects more than just individuals—it impacts our entire community,” Blandon said. “Without stable housing, educational, and economic success becomes extremely difficult.”

Budget battles at the federal level

The fight is mirrored at the state level in Arizona and in a larger national battle, as the Trump administration pushes to lock in Trump’s 2017 tax cuts—predominantly for households that earn more than $450,000 per year—indefinitely.

The tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy class and corporations, pave the way for an overall reduction in government spending—removing funding from programs like Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and the State Department and USAID, just to name a few.

READ MORE: You’re paying taxes today—but are billionaires and big corporations dodging theirs?

Briona Parkinson, Arizona’s political and legislative director for AFSCME, a labor union representing essential city and county workers, emphasized the hole that will be left by the proposed federal funding cuts.

One-third of state spending comes from federal transfers, and Congress is currently considering a budget plan that cuts spending and taxes to disproportionately benefit the rich.

“These proposed federal cuts would blow a hole in city and state budgets, forcing schools to shut down, hospitals to close, and frontline public workers to be laid off or frozen out of critical contract negotiations,” Parkinson said. 

Cuts are not just harming public workers, but also the communities they serve: working families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities, Parkinson said.

“While billionaires buy more yachts and private jets, our communities will suffer from shuttered programs, unsafe streets and overwhelmed health systems,” Parkinson said. “Public service workers are the backbone of our communities, not a budget line to be erased.” 

Ducey-era state funding cuts

Now, Arizona is facing sweeping budget cuts and a $1.6 billion deficit through this fiscal year, resulting from the implementation of a flat personal income tax, passed by legislative Republicans and then-Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, in 2021. 

The main harm is a loss of revenue resulting from Arizona’s move from a progressive tax system to a flat tax, Joseph Palomino, director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, told The Copper Courier. 

The 2021 deal changed Arizona law so that Arizona’s lowest-earning workers now pay the same percentage in state tax as billionaires. The flat tax was misleadingly championed as a fair way to save all taxpayers’ money, when in reality, households making less than $85,000 would only save between $20 to $200. Anyone who makes over $1 million, on the other hand, would have their tax bill cut by nearly $30,000—more than what 20% of taxpayers in the state make all year.

As predicted, the change resulted in 93% of the tax cuts benefitting people in the top 20 percent of incomes, reducing those households’ contributions to the state General Fund.

While it was originally estimated the tax cut would cost $2 billion in lost revenue per year, the first full year of implementation cost $700 million more than expected. 

While temporary state revenues have increased over time, thanks to federal pandemic relief programs, Arizona is in a transition period, and needs to put in more investment, Palomino said. 

“That revenue could have been used to invest in our roads or schools or child care and our water,” Palomino said. ”We have a child care wait list that we just do not have enough revenue to fund.” 

The state would have so much more revenue to work with if a progressive tax structure were still in place, Palomino said. 

Of the tax cut, 70% of its total value benefited those with incomes of more than $200,000, and less than 10% of the total value went to those who earn less than $100,000, according to the Grand Canyon Institute. 

Arizonans with incomes below $100,000—or 80% of all tax filers—receive less than 10% of the tax reduction—but those with incomes higher than $500,000 receive nearly half of the $1.4 billion tax reduction from the flat tax, the non-partisan think tank found.   

“Republican lawmakers have gutted Arizona’s budget through a flat tax and corporate loopholes that overwhelmingly benefit the ultra-wealthy,” Alejandra Gomez, executive director of Living United for Change in Arizona, said in a press release. “Now they’re doubling down—calling for even more tax cuts for billionaires while families struggle to pay rent, afford groceries, or see a doctor.”