In gains reminiscent of the good times before the recession, state revenues took in $84.4 million more last month than what was assumed when legislators approved the budget earlier this year.

While I understand that things move slowly in Washington, D.C., I simply don’t understand why it’s taken more than 20 years for Congress to take action to help America’s local businesses.

The Joint Task Force on Income Tax Reform plans to meet one final time in hopes that it can agree on a series of recommendations for simplifying Arizona’s personal income tax system that could be taken up by the full Legislature in 2014.

In case you forgot, Gov. Jan Brewer has other priorities this year besides getting the Legislature to approve Medicaid expansion. The Republican governor also wants to completely overhaul the state's sales tax collection system.

A New Mexico-based college that recently cut its ties with a foundation led by state Rep. Catherine Miranda to enroll undocumented immigrants would get nearly $1 million a year under a Senate spending plan.

The Arizona Legislature has gone from the fast track to stuck in the mud as lawmakers have become bogged down by the three key issues: Medicaid, sales taxes and the state budget.

A group of Arizona retailers called on Gov. Jan Brewer this week to support legislation that would tax their online competitors, but the lawmaker trying to help broker the deal says the future of the “Amazon bill” is still unclear. The so-called brick-and-mortar retailers want online companies that have a physical presence in the state to be taxed at the same level they are.

Oregon, more than any other state, relies on its residents' income tax payments for revenue, while its northern neighbor, Washington, depends more heavily than any other state on sales taxes, according to a new 50-state analysis of state finances.