Arizona needs to increase tax revenue over the next few years to keep a balanced budget while providing its most vulnerable residents with the services they need, lobbyist Dana Naimark said in a lecture Tuesday evening.

“Our tax system is out of balance,” said Naimark, who previously worked as a budget analyst for the state Legislature. “It no longer fits our economy or our needs.”

Naimark now heads the Children’s Action Alliance, a lobbying group that focuses on issues affecting kids and their families, including education, abuse, neglect and juvenile justice.

Her Tuesday lecture in the Memorial Union focused on the human impact of the state’s budget issues and was the first of a three-part lecture series, “Seeking Justice in Arizona,” put on by ASU’s Department of Justice and Social Inquiry.

Department head Marjorie Zatz said the state budget is closely linked with social welfare because of the impact cuts and funding raises have on social services.

“The issues of education, K-12 and universities, health care, issues of poverty and homelessness — these are all justice issues,” Zatz said.

“And state social agencies help with all of these.”

In addition to the recession, Naimark said the state’s trend of lowering taxes over the last 15 years is to blame for raising the cost burden on the state’s poorest families, which end up having to pay thousands of dollars more each month in health care and child care.

“You may have heard some of our legislators talking about how important it was to them not to raise taxes,” she said. “What they’re not telling you is, the results of their policy decisions have been higher costs to the very lowest-income families.”

Naimark said she disagrees with the budget proposals set forth this year by both Gov. Jan Brewer and the state Legislature’s Republican majority.

Solutions to the budget crisis include taxing a broader range of goods and services, disposing of tax credits that are ineffective and restoring income tax cuts, Naimark said.

“It’s not all that hard to fix the budget — technically,” she said. “What’s hard is getting those ideas accomplished and coming to a consensus on them.”

History senior Andrew Clark said he disagreed with most of Naimark’s proposals, particularly about broadening the sales tax, which has been advocated by many Democrats in the Legislature.

“We live in a state that depends on services and tourism,” Clark said. “I think taxing those things in this economy is a horrendous idea and would actually decrease state revenue.”

Justice studies junior Christopher Jewett said he agrees with most of Naimark’s ideas but said the state needs to make some fundamental changes to its tax policies before those ideas can be implemented.

Jewett cited a state law that requires increases in revenue to pass in the Legislature by a two-thirds majority as an example. That law, he said, makes raising taxes or rolling back cuts when necessary virtually impossible.

These proposals would be unpopular with voters in Arizona, Naimark said, which she attributes to voters not looking enough at the big picture.

Naimark said she is working to help educate the public about the importance of bringing in revenue.

“People want tax increases and they want services — there’s no connection between the two in their minds,” she said. “Somehow as a community, we’ve lost that connection, so we need to restore it in people’s minds.”

Reach the reporter at derek.quizon@asu.edu.