Arizona's economy has been a platform issue for Republican Doug Ducey in the governor's race.
In the upcoming general election, whoever replaces Gov.Jan Brewer faces a projected $1 billion deficit in the first two years of office, and Ducey has highlighted bringing more work to the state and kickstarting the economy as a tactic to take on this deficit.
"There is nothing like a growing economy to fix budget concerns, so the more job creation and growth we can have, the more tax revenues we create, the better it is to close that budget gap," he said during Friday's broadcast of Arizona Week.
The Republican recently visited Tucson and took a tour of Pima Community College with PCC Chancellor Lee Lambert.
Ducey has said he wants to eliminate the state's income tax and revamp the tax code to revive the economy.
"We want Arizona to be the best possible state in the nation to do business," he said. "I want our existing companies to be expanding. I want companies from out of state to look at Arizona as the perfect place to do business. We have to start by simplifying our tax code, stop any regulations...have small business owners grow, a governor can help build that type of an environment... ."
If the state is going to have a growing economy, the focus should also be on education, Ducey said.
"You have to have equipped K-12 students, so when they graduate, they can go into the workforce or go into higher learning training," he said.
He also said government must be made more efficient to the taxpayer.
"How do we restructure the government and use technology, so that we are creating jobs in the private sector...so that we are making the private sector and economy larger, rather than having a more expensive government?" he said.
Ducey is facing Democrat Fred DuVal, Libertarian Barry Hess and Americans Elect candidate John Mealer in the general election, Nov. 4.
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