Balancing Acts: Tax Cuts and Public Policy in Arizona About Arizona Policy Choices This volume is the first publication in the Arizona Policy Choices series. The purpose of the series is to provide objective, nonpartisan information and analyses on a public policy issue that is especially critical in Arizona at the time of publication. True to its name, Arizona Policy Choices will provide the readers with facts and perspectives on the choices which Arizona policy makers can make on an issue. And, perhaps most importantly, the series and the outreach events that will be coordinated with the release of each volume will present the potential consequences—both good and bad—of each choice. Public policy-making has become a very complicated process. Politicians and other public officials have no shortage of inputs and scrutiny of the choices they make on behalf of their constituents. Nevertheless, some policy choices are based on relatively little information or on information that is not widely available. By producing a comprehensive document on a timely public policy issue—one that contains the views of scholars, journalists, and public policy practitioners—Arizona’s leaders will have a vital resource for their decisionmaking. Morrison Institute for Public Policy, as the publisher of Arizona Policy Choices, plays the role of “convener” among the authors of articles contained in each volume of the series. We appreciate our authors’ work on this initial publication. Each one has made an important contribution to this critical public issue. In addition, we wish to thank the members of the Institute’s Board of Advisors for their assistance with the development of Arizona Policy Choices. It is our hope that this work—and the thought, discussion, and understanding it stimulates—makes a significant contribution to public policy-making in Arizona. Rob Melnick, Ph.D. Director, Morrison Institute for Public Policy School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University, November 1997 Return to the Table of Contents