Arizona Update: Tax Reform or Tax Hike?

Taxes Update

In November of 2002, Governor Janet Napolitano appointed a 21 member Citizens’ Finance Review Commission to look into ways to make Arizona’s tax structure more reliable and competitive. She promised that she will not raise taxes in 2005. The commission came out with 36 recommendations, but their report centered around easing the tax burden on Arizona businesses.

The commission’s overall plan included measures to make sure that the state government took no extra revenue. They also advocated increasing the maximum size of the state’s rainy along with making it harder for the legislature to raid that fund. Unfortunately, the report also included expanding the sales tax to services, eliminating the 1 percent constitutional cap on property taxes, reenacting a state property tax, and repealing the constitutionally required 2/3 supermajority for raising taxes.