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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Advocates: AZ Tax Credits Lack Oversight, Accountability

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Monday, December 10, 2012   

PHOENIX - Arizona's tax credit system is out of control, according to three diverse advocacy groups. Children's Action Alliance, the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG) say income tax credits divert more than $300 million each year from the state's general fund, with little legislative oversight and no accountability.

CAA president Dana Naimark says lawmakers review and vote on the state budget every year, but tax credits are "forever."

"With most tax credits, there never has to be another vote of the full legislature, once they're enacted. And there's very little dialogue about the tradeoffs, and how the costs of the tax credits fit in with our state priorities and our limited resources."

Naimark says there's also a lack of transparency regarding tax credits. She says a legislative oversight committee spent much of its meeting last week behind closed doors.

Naimark proposes that the legislature add sunset dates to each tax credit, in the same manner that state agencies have sunset reviews every five to ten years.

"So, it would require a positive vote by the full legislature to continue the tax credit. That would require more overview and more awareness by every legislator, and really, a reconsideration of the value of that tax credit."

And Naimark doesn't think the public gets enough information about the effectiveness of tax credits. She cites the private school tax credit as an example.

"I think most Arizona taxpayers would be quite surprised to know that the tax credit dollars per private school student grew 128 percent during the 2000s, while spending per public school student grew less than 1 percent."

She notes that Arizona's tax credits are part of a larger concern about the intentional erosion of the state's tax base through numerous credits and deductions that, for some families and companies, can erase their entire state income tax obligation.


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