Legislative Republicans aren’t taking any chances when it comes to the repeal of the state’s equalization property taxes.
With the 2009 legislative session barely a week old, three Republican lawmakers have submitted bills to permanently repeal the tax, which was suspended for three years in 2006, but is scheduled to go back into effect later this year.
To many Republican lawmakers, allowing the tax to go back into effect would be tantamount to a tax increase, and its permanent repeal has become a top priority.
Senators Jack Harper and Jim Waring, and Rep. Andy Biggs, have all submitted identical bills aimed at permanently repealing the property tax. Biggs’ bill, which has 34 cosponsors, was referred on Jan. 15 to the House Ways and Means and Appropriations committees.
All three versions of the bill contain the same text — “The state equalization assistance property tax, suspended since 2006 but scheduled to resume in 2009, is repealed.”
Biggs, who submitted his bill on Jan. 14, said the issue was important enough for him to submit a mirror bill in the House to go along with its Senate counterparts.
“I wanted to run mirrors because this is very important to me and we need to get it done right away because we’re coming up on the expiration of the moratorium on the tax,” the Gilbert Republican said.
A similar bill passed during the 2008 legislative session but was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano. If reinstated, the tax is expected to provide about $250 million in revenue to the state, and Napolitano included that money in her proposed budget for the 2010 fiscal year.
But Napolitano has joined President Barack Obama’s Cabinet as secretary of Homeland Security, and Jan Brewer, long known as an anti-tax Republican, was sworn in as her replacement on Jan. 21. Opponents of the tax are hoping the former secretary of state will be more amenable to the permanent repeal than her predecessor.