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Public-education advocates have filed referendums that seek to repeal a new income tax cut that undercuts Proposition 208, the voter-approved ballot measure that taxes wealthy Arizonans to pay for public education. Last November, Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 208, a measure that levied a 3.5 percent tax on individuals earning over $250,000 and on married couples making more than $500,000. The revenues would go towards teacher and support staff salaries, as well as technical education and training programs. But Republican lawmakers moved quickly to try to undercut the ballot measure. The Republican-controlled legislature approved a budget that tosses Arizona s progressive income tax system and replaces it with a phased-in 2.5 percent flat tax amounting to a $1.9 billion tax cut, per the Associated Press. The spending package also capped the combined tax rate for high-income earners subject to the Prop 208 surcharge at 4.5 percent, meaning that they would only pay

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