By admin 
PHOENIX — Arizona’s governor needs to be proactive to attract jobs to the state, say the top two Republicans running in the primary for the GOP nomination.
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Affordability tops the list of concerns for many voters, who have been squeezed by high gas prices this year. U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert both say low taxes and cutting regulations are the keys to growing Arizona’s economy.
At last month’s Clean Elections Commission debate in Scottsdale, Biggs and Schweikert said the governor needs to attract companies.
“I will be the biggest cheerleader going out to businesses and telling them, ‘We do have water. We do have power. We want you in Arizona,’” Biggs said.
“You don’t sit behind your desk and make pronouncements,” Schweikert told reporters after the debate. “You go out and earn it.”
He said the state needs to get back to “love bombing” companies interested in the state, pointing to former Gov. Doug Ducey’s strategy.
“The local mayor calls them,” he said. “Someone from the Commerce Authority calls them.”
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But Biggs and Schwiekert differ on the specifics of tax policy.
Biggs has proposed eliminating Arizona’s income tax, saying the state needs the change to attract businesses.
“If you don’t deal with the tax structure that we have in Arizona, guess where they’re going?” he said. “And I know this – they’re going to Texas. They’re going to Tennessee. They’re going to Florida.”
Schweikert says the proposal doesn’t add up, saying Arizona can’t pay for its state budget without that revenue.
“It’s not based in the math and the reality,” he said.
According to the Common Sense Institute, Arizona’s year-over-year job growth is ahead of national average, ranking 10th in the nation.
But the research group also says the state’s labor market is cooling. Unemployment is also ticking up and, at 4.8%, is at a post-pandemic high, and the number of people employed or looking for work has declined for four straight months.
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