Gov. Jan Brewer's proposed overhaul of the state's complex sales tax collection system is moving forward in the Senate, even as negotiations continue to change it to allay fears from cities and towns and some lawmakers express concern it is too sweeping to be accomplished in one session.

Gov. Jan Brewer and some Arizona lawmakers are determined to pass her plan to simplify the state’s tax code this year, but municipalities are just as determined to delay at least one portion of the governor’s proposal that they argue could do irreparable harm to their finances.

Mayors of Arizona cities offered an alternative plan to simplify the state’s sales tax code today, hours before a Senate panel began tackling key provisions of Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal.

A bill to remove the requirement that cities and counties publish public notices in a newspaper – and instead allow them to publish the notice only on the municipality’s website – was voted down in the House on Wednesday. But the battle over is far from over.

One of the most controversial bills in this year’s legislative session is HB2657, TPT reform. The TPT (Transaction Privilege Tax) is Arizona’s sales tax program, and it has been more than 80 years in the making. Last year, Gov. Jan Brewer appointed a task force to examine ways to make the system simpler for businesses to comply with.

The unanimous vote that Gov. Jan Brewer’s sales tax reform bill received in the House Ways and Means Committee is far from a sign of smooth sailing ahead.

Gov. Jan Brewer today announced her plans for simplifying Arizona’s complicated sales tax system, which followed recommendations from a task force on eliminating the multiple jurisdictions and layers of bureaucracy that businesses face in paying transaction privilege taxes.

Personal problems, problems from constituents and even problems that admittedly don’t exist are sometimes the basis for bills Arizona lawmakers introduce.

A state representative has a plan to force local public entities to vote on what the Legislature couldn’t last year: whether to stop the automatic deductions from public employees’ paychecks for union dues.

Following her public feud with an association representing Arizona municipalities this year, a Republican from Scottsdale wants to bar the association’s new employees from joining the state’s retirement system.