Taxpayer Safeguards

ARIZONA AT HEAD OF REPORTING SPENDING

The ability to see how government uses the public purse is fundamental to democracy. Transparency in government spending checks corruption, bolsters public confidence, and promotes fiscal responsibility.

In 2010, Arizona’s Department of Administration created a new transparency website called OpenBooks.az.gov. This website allows residents to monitor most state expenditures at the checkbook level.

The state can still do more to shine light on its expenditures. While the website tracks some subsidies in the form of grants and tax credits — and in some cases shows the number of jobs and investments that companies are expected to deliver — many subsidy programs lack this detail and no information is provided on the amount of tax credits given to individual companies.

Arizona decision makers should require comprehensive information on economic subsidies is added to this website.

TRANSPARENCY 2.0 STANDARDS

Today, you can go online to track packages in the mail, check your cell phone minutes, and compare real estate prices nationwide. Yet government spending continues to be analog. What we're calling Transparency 2.0 is a new standard of comprehensive, online one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility.

The following are the Transparency 2.0 standards for comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility:

Comprehensive: A user-friendly Web portal provides residents the ability to search detailed information about government contracts, spending, subsidies, and tax expenditures for all government entities.

One-Stop: Residents can search all government expenditures on a single website.

One-Click Searchable: Residents can search data with a single query or browse common-sense categories. Residents can sort data on government spending by recipient, amount, legislative district, granting agency, purpose, or keyword. Residents can also download data to conduct detailed off-line analyses.

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News Release | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Arizona Receives Mediocre Grade for Enforcement of Job-Creation Measures in Subsidy Programs

Arizona received a ‘C’ grade in a new report that examined how well states enforced their own requirements for job creation in their major economic development subsidy programs.

Media Hit | Budget

Officials seek multimillion-dollar replacement for accounting system

State officials responsible for paying vendors and public employees are eager to replace an accounting system used for nearly two decades – before it crashes.

Media Hit | Budget

Our View: Red light review?

From a state perspective, we may not have heard the last discussion of a decision by the Sierra Vista City Council to set up intersection “red light” cameras.

News Release | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Problems Identified with Growing Trend of Red-Light and Speed Cameras

A new report released today by the Arizona PIRG Education Fund outlines problems with the growing trend among cities in Arizona and across the country to outsource traffic enforcement to red-light and speed camera vendors.

Media Hit | Budget

Report: Traffic Cameras Create Conflict Between Profits and Safety

At least 20 local governments in Arizona have contracted for red-light and speed cameras in their communities. Companies say their cameras make roads safer. However, a new report says the contracts often put profits ahead of safety.

Pages

News Release | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Arizona Receives Mediocre Grade for Enforcement of Job-Creation Measures in Subsidy Programs

Arizona received a ‘C’ grade in a new report that examined how well states enforced their own requirements for job creation in their major economic development subsidy programs.

Media Hit | Budget

Officials seek multimillion-dollar replacement for accounting system

State officials responsible for paying vendors and public employees are eager to replace an accounting system used for nearly two decades – before it crashes.

Media Hit | Budget

Our View: Red light review?

From a state perspective, we may not have heard the last discussion of a decision by the Sierra Vista City Council to set up intersection “red light” cameras.

News Release | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Problems Identified with Growing Trend of Red-Light and Speed Cameras

A new report released today by the Arizona PIRG Education Fund outlines problems with the growing trend among cities in Arizona and across the country to outsource traffic enforcement to red-light and speed camera vendors.

Media Hit | Budget

Report: Traffic Cameras Create Conflict Between Profits and Safety

At least 20 local governments in Arizona have contracted for red-light and speed cameras in their communities. Companies say their cameras make roads safer. However, a new report says the contracts often put profits ahead of safety.

Pages

Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Caution: Red Light Cameras Ahead

Privatized traffic law enforcement systems are spreading rapidly across the United States, but the public interest is threatened when private camera companies and municipalities focus on ticket revenues first and safety second.

Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Tax-Increment Financing

Tax-increment financing (TIF) has been a widely used tool for municipalities seeking private investment. TIF allows cities and towns to borrow against an area’s future tax revenues in order to invest in immediate projects or encourage present development. When used properly, TIF can promote enduring growth and stronger communities for blighted neighborhoods; but TIF can also end up wasting taxpayer resources or channeling money to politically favored special interests.

Report | Arizona PIRG | Budget, Tax

Toward Common Ground for the Supercommittee

The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG) have joined together to propose to the Supercommittee and to Congress as a whole a list of more than 50 recommendations to reform our future spending commitments. If enacted in their entirety, these changes would save taxpayers more than $1 trillion over the coming decade.

Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Following the Money 2011

State governments across the country have been moving toward making their checkbooks transparent by creating online transparency portals – government-operated websites that allow visitors to see who receives state money and for what purposes. Forty states provide transparency websites that allow residents to access databases of government expenditures with “checkbook-level” detail. Most of these websites are also searchable, making it easier for residents to follow the money and monitor government spending.

Report | Arizona PIRG Education Fund | Budget

Following the Money 2010

State governments across the country are changing that. At least 32 states currently mandate that residents be able to access an online database of government expenditures with “checkbook-level” detail. Most of these Web sites are also searchable, making it easier for residents to obtain information about government spending. This report evaluates states’ progress toward “Transparency 2.0” – a new standard of comprehensive, one-stop, one-click budget accountability and accessibility.

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