https://www.thecentersquare.com/arizona/maricopa-county-cuts-property-t…

(The Center Square) – Arizona’s largest county is cutting property taxes.

This year, several transparency-related tax bills have been signed into law, each aiming to make tax issues more accessible to the public.

Sean McCarthy, senior research analyst at the Arizona Tax Research Association, said these bills were designed to improve tax law by increasing accountability.

Many transparency-focused bills are created in response to changing times or circumstances that require continued work on laws, or things legislators didn’t know were a problem, McCarthy said.

https://tucson.com/business/effort-underway-to-lower-property-taxes-for…

Arizona Republican lawmakers are moving to lower property taxes on businesses.

But the chief proponent told members of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that it is being done in a way not to shift the burden to homeowners, and without reducing revenues available to local governments and schools that depend on the levy.

https://time.com/5952901/universities-tax-exemption/

On March 30, 2020, toward the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic, New Haven citizens stormed the city’s Zoom budget meeting to vent their outrage at Yale University’s continued strain on city finances. Residents specifically pointed to Yale’s vast and tax-exempt property holdings compared to the deficit-ridden New Haven public schools hungry for property-tax dollars.

https://chamberbusinessnews.com/2020/11/23/atraconference/

Arizona’s economy is recovering at a much faster pace than predicted at the height of COVID-19.

While there are potential setbacks on the horizon, the economic outlook ahead looks surprisingly bright, state and national economists and budget analysts said Thursday at the annual conference of the nonprofit Arizona Tax Research Association (ATRA).

Arizona voters will finally have the chance to weigh in on the so-called "Invest in Ed" ballot measure this November after the Arizona Supreme Court knocked it off the ballot two years ago.

Teachers unions and education advocates are campaigning hard for Proposition 208, which they say will help address Arizona's teacher shortage. The measure aims to make up for lagging state funding with a tax on the wealthy.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/robertrobb/2020/10/09/pro…

Proposition 208 constitutes a huge gamble with Arizona’s economy. It would give the state the 9th highest marginal individual income tax rate in the country.

As a general rule, states with high income tax rates have underperforming economies, measured by growth in employment and personal income.

Arizonans have a business decision to make at the ballot this year. Proposition 208 seeks to nearly double the top income tax bracket. The question each voter must ask is, can Arizona afford to become a high-tax state without severe economic consequences?

As leaders in economics and tax policy, we trust that Arizonans believe us when we say there’s no free lunch. You can’t raise the top marginal tax rate 77.7% without a big economic impact.

If you’re a voter who is interested in raising taxes for K-12 education, surely you’d want to measure the costs against the benefits.

A batter in baseball going 0 for 3 at the plate is the equivalent of a rough day at the office. When a political campaign goes 0 for 3, it’s the equivalent of getting sent down to the minors.

Based on its three TV ads, the pro-Proposition 208 campaign should start packing its bags.

If passed, Proposition 208 would take the state’s top individual income tax rate from 4.5% to 8%, a 77.7% increase.

That’s not some obscure aspect of the initiative buried deep in the text; it’s the initiative’s central provision.

Confounding small business advocates and tax policy experts, Proposition 208 proponents this week trotted out a bizarre claim, saying, “it’s legally impossible for any business to be taxed under Proposition 208,” and “under Proposition 208, small business owners will not pay one cent more in additional taxes.”