PHOENIX (AP) – A tax passed by a new voter earning Arizonans with high earnings, which will increase spending on education, is definitely in the crosshairs of the government, Doug Ducey. GOP-controlled legislature.
Ducey told the Valley Partnership business group that he would advise people who asked him about the new 3.5% tax on the rich’s income to wait to take their investments to other countries, because the tax now money, is only due April 2022. Meanwhile, he is dying the benchmark, and he has outlined his dual strategy to do just that.
Business groups and the GOP-led legislature are debating the new tax, and Ducey noted that the state Supreme Court has quickly detected the attempt by accepting the case before it can be fully heard by a trial court. Ducey submitted a friend of the court letter in which he requested the court to act. It will be heard on April 20. Ducey appointed a majority of the judges.
If the attempt fails, Ducey said he is working with House and Senate leaders to find ways to neutralize the new tax, which he says will make the state’s tax code uncompetitive.
‘Prop 208 promised additional dollars to K-12 education. “I had no problem with that,” Ducey said. ‘But what it also did was that our highest tax rate rose from 4.5% to 8%. This was an increase of 77%. I’m really having trouble with that. ”
There are several tracks the legislature can follow, but one that eliminates about a third of the estimated $ 827 million a year in new revenue has already been passed by the Senate. The benchmark by IDP Senator JD Mesnar d, creates a new tax code section for small businesses only, which sets the highest tax rate at 4.5% but avoids the new 3.5% surcharge.
Income for small businesses in Arizona is currently taxed on personal tax returns. The new tax voters approved in November levy a 3.5% tax on income above $ 250,000 for individuals or higher than $ 500,000 for couples. Opponents backed by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry spent millions of people convincing voters it would hurt small businesses.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
“Of course, I heard throughout the campaigns that the surcharge is not aimed at small businesses, but also not at small businesses,” he told the Senate Finance Committee. “In many ways, it just codifies the sentiment.”
Democratic Senator Martin Quezada said during a full Senate debate that Mesnard’s plan was “a direct attack on the will of the electorate. ”
“This is another reason why voters do not trust us,” Quezada said. ‘They are working out their hand to collect signatures, to put a measure on the ballot paper that will solve a problem that we as legislators could not fix. They pass a proposal and we do something like that. ‘
Other ways to make the new tax less rich for the rich are contained in a state budget proposal now being negotiated, where GOP legislators are considering a major overhaul of the tax code, at Ducey’s insistence. His budget proposal for January includes a tax cut of $ 200 million a year that will rise to $ 600 million within three years. But with a budget surplus of about $ 1 billion, Senate and House Republicans look beyond that number.
Republican Rep. Ben Toma is leading the House’s efforts to revamp the tax code. His proposal eliminates the current rated tax brackets and replaces them with a flat 2.5% tax on all income levels. Under the current progressive tax structure, taxes start at 2.59% on first $ 26,500 income and increase to a maximum of 4.5% on income over $ 159,000.
The proposed tax cut means that the rich will get the biggest cuts. Toma said there is also talk of the maximum tax with the Proposition 208 surcharge of 5% and the use of the general fund to compensate for the difference in the special fund created by the new initiative.
Half of the new tax on the rich is used for increases for recognized teachers, 25% for raising wages for cafeteria workers, bus drivers and other support staff, and the rest for teacher training, vocational education and other initiatives.
The initiative was a result of a strike by teachers in 2018 that highlighted low wages for educators and a slow setback of budget cuts introduced during the Great Recession. The march has secured higher wages for teachers, but many interest groups in education have said it falls short. An early group then arranged to pass the initiative.
Ducey said at the Valley Partnership online meeting on Friday that he respects the initiative process and the will of the voters and gives his reasons for destroying the measure. And he said he supports more cash for K-12 schools, even as he works to eliminate the new tax.
‘I think there’s a way to fix that or to make the dollars available for K-12 training and to keep our state competitive. “One route is judicial, and the other is legislative,” he said. ‘And you have to see the resolution on this and clarity around the issue in the coming months. But it will be this session. ”