Goldwater Institute

The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), designed to prevent the neglect and segregation of special education students, has resulted in the neglect and segregation of even larger student populations of minorities nationwide, including Arizona. The culprit: Perverse financial incentives to classify children as "learning disabled" when in fact they are "learning deficient," meaning they require remedial reading instruction, not special education programs.

In the 1980's TV series, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, galactic explorer Arthur Dent discovers that the ultimate answer to "life, the universe, and everything" is the number 42. While we can't claim to have solved the deep mysteries of the cosmos, we are confident that the 42 ideas presented here have the power to expand freedom and prosperity in our corner of the world. In this report, the staff and scholars of the Goldwater Institute offer dozens of specific ideas for the legislature to consider in crafting state policy this year, and beyond.

Arizona's smokers have discovered that there's more than one way to be Proposition'd. First, it was Proposition 200, which banned smoking in Tempe's "public places." That's public, as in private restaurants, bars, billiard halls, and bowling alleys. Now it's Proposition 303, a proposal to increase Arizona's cigarette tax from 58 cents per pack to $1.18--the nation's fifth highest rate. The war against tobacco has reached fever pitch. Politicians and misguided voters disdain property rights, ignore contrary scientific evidence on secondhand smoke, reduce smokers to second-class citizenship, and pave the path for more intrusive government worming its way into every phase and facet of our daily lives.

Corporate tax burdens in Arizona are among the heaviest in the nation. Arizona's in-state tax burden and its total effective corporate income tax rate are the highest in the immediate region. The state's property tax burden on businesses is the sixth highest in the nation for certain classes of commercial property. Arizona's heavy corporate taxation is detrimental to capital formation and business growth, and discourages out-of-state entrepreneurs from setting up shop in the state.

The Arizona Constitution contains the very strongest protection of private property rights in the nation. Arizona allows governments to condemn private property only for clearly defined public purposes, such as roadways and police stations, or certain very specific private purposes, such as a right of way or a drain. As written, that constitution gives Arizona property owners complete security against arbitrary condemnation and seizure by local governments. Since 1997, however, when the Arizona State Legislature adopted new redevelopment statutes, the power of governments to take has become frighteningly broad, and the spirit of the Arizona Constitution has been ignored.