Seal of Arizona Arizona

Arizona first had a constitutional tax and expenditure limit in 1978 through legislative referendum, and then changes were made to that TEL in 1992. The TEL is covered in Article 9, Sections 17 and 22 of the Arizona State Constitution. It is applied to revenues and expenditures; its growth is limited to 7% of state personal income and can be overridden by a 2/3 supermajority vote. This TEL also has numerous exemptions. These include the effects of inflation, “increasing assessed valuation or any other similar effect that increases state revenue but is not caused by an affirmative act of the legislature” as well as fees and assessments that are authorized by statute. In addition, any taxes, fees or assessments that are imposed by counties, cities, towns, and other political subdivisions of the state are exempt as well.

 
The base year represents the year the hypothetical Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) would have been enacted. Selecting a base year changes how the state’s TABOR is calculated because the annual growth rates of inflation and population change depending on when TABOR is enacted.
  • Year Inflation-adjusted Actual Spending
    1992 9,641,966,781
    1993 10,262,059,020
    1994 10,473,230,390
    1995 11,539,409,460
    1996 16,018,987,350
    1997 14,999,838,480
    1998 16,184,809,660
    1999 17,611,439,810
    2000 18,580,874,240
    2001 19,418,475,150
    2002 21,262,747,720
    2003 18,746,688,090
    2004 21,617,668,820
    2005 21,866,941,720
    2006 23,482,001,370
    2007 21,571,389,180
    2008 22,678,950,550
    2009 22,170,758,560
    2010 22,205,000,100
    2011 19,708,974,400
    2012 19,372,862,210
    2013 18,842,310,500
    2014 26,791,492,100
    2015 31,164,800,980
    2016 32,160,585,920
    2017 23,826,966,070
    2018 25,210,562,780
    2019 25,743,523,030
    2020 63,965,091,270
    2021 53,821,605,010
    2022 60,029,008,480
*All spending figures are in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars.