A possible mistake in the ballot language for the Quality Education and Jobs initiative could keep the proposed one-cent sales tax increase off the ballot in November.

The Arizona Tax Research Association, a prominent critic of the initiative, said they discovered a potential major flaw in the campaign’s signature-gathering efforts.

The Quality Education and Jobs campaign may have been collecting signatures on petition sheets using ballot language that is different than the version that was filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.

See the two versions

A coalition headed by an influential fiscal policy think tank submitted paperwork today to launch a campaign in support of a ballot measure that caps the growth of property values in Arizona.

The campaign, called “Yes on 117,” is headed by Kevin McCarthy, who is president of the Arizona Tax Research Association.

The campaign group’s treasurer is Bas Aja, a lobbyist for the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association.

The issue of whether Amazon.com should be required to collect tax on online sales to Arizonans isn't going away.

State legislators during their 2012 regular session considered but ultimately shelved proposals to force the Seattle-based online retailer to collect tax on its sales in Arizona.

But the issue is expected to resurface publicly in coming months when a newly appointed state task force considers making recommendations for legislative action on improving Arizona's sales-tax system.

Gov. Jan Brewer this week named a dozen people to a task force that will figure out how to make Arizona's sales-tax code simpler both for those paying it and those collecting it.

The governor created the task force last month with an executive order, saying the state's sales tax is overly complex to administer. But it's also a crucial part of state operations; about half of Arizona's operating dollars comes from the tax.

Brewer has set a Dec. 31 deadline for the group to do its work and submit a report.

PHOENIX – Governor Jan Brewer today appointed members to the Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT)
Simplification Task Force.

The panel, consisting of tax experts, business owners, municipal representatives and others, has been
asked to issue recommendations on how the Arizona sales tax code can be made simpler and easier for
taxpayers to comply with and the State to administer. Arizona’s sales tax system is generally considered
among the nation’s most complex.

The TPT Task Force was established through an Executive Order issued May 11, 2012, the same day

WASHINGTON – Vans Trading Co. has been around since 1946, but it’s only in the last decade that customers at the Tuba City general store have yelled at the cashiers after they get their receipts.

That’s because Vans is in the town with the highest sales tax in the nation and the town, in turn, is in the state with the second-highest combined sales tax burden in the nation, according to two recent reports.

“After we ring up the total in the product and the tax comes up, they’re not happy with it,” said Vans owner Lucky Mokhcia. “But I tell them I have no control over that.

Four Arizona cities rank among the nation's top 10 municipalities for highest sales-tax levies, according to a new report.


Consumers in Glendale, Phoenix, Tucson and Mesa pay combined sales-tax rates in the 9 percent range, placing them among the top 10 in the nation, with Scottsdale, Chandler and Gilbert only slightly lower. Birmingham and Montgomery, both in Alabama, had the highest combined state and local sales-tax rates at 10 percent.

Intel Corp.CEO Craig Barrett’s Jan. 14 announcement that the computer chip giant is considering upgrading and increasing production capacity at its Chandler plant is quite gratifying, and should give impetus to proposals to trim Arizona’s too-high business taxes, which surely will be a factor in the final decision.

Two truths about taxes: They are necessary. They discourage behaviors that are taxed, while they implicitly encourage behaviors that are not taxed.

In Arizona, there is a third truth about taxes: The balance between business and personal taxes is heavily lopsided. Consequently, Arizona's tax code is helping create an economy exactly opposite of what Arizonans most often say they want.

Which would you rather have move to Arizona: (a) a sufficient number of retirees to create 1,000 new jobs in grocery and retail stores or (b) a company that creates 1,000 new high-tech jobs?

During last year's hot, sweaty real estate boogie, Jim Malone was a wallflower.

Malone was sitting the dance out in his South Side home, where he and his wife have lived for the last 52 years and raised their two daughters.

Last week, he felt a little of the vibration from the dance floor when he received his property valuation for 2007 from the Pima County Assessor's Office.

Malone's valuation increased by 30 percent, not that far above the average increase for county homeowners.