Within minutes of hearing discussions of residential private golf course memberships, hilltop views and the actual market value of luxury homes in north Scottsdale, a hearing officer with the Arizona State Board of Equalization reached a conclusion - the value of Dennis Grose’s home had been overestimated by the office of Maricopa County Assessor Keith Russell by almost $250,000 dollars.

PHOENIX, AZ -- The annual futility of efforts either to abolish Arizona’s tax on business equipment and machinery or to increase the exemption has not deterred the many critics of the tax.


This year’s version, HCR 2006, takes a novel approach to formulating the tax exemption, which, if passed by voters, would increase from $66,440 annually per company to almost $1 million.

Furthermore, business leaders are trying to convince legislators the revision wouldn’t be an orphaned referendum.

Mesa is offering more than $2.8 million in incentives to lure a beer distributor - and its 455 employees - to the city in what is the largest single influx of jobs to the community in years.


Crescent Crown Distributing plans to break ground this month in west Mesa, moving from its current Phoenix locale. The site is in the middle of an area decimated in the last 10 years by an exodus of car dealers, a Motorola manufacturing plant, and stores of all sizes.

The delicate balancing act involved in changing Arizona’s property tax structure will leave some homeowners paying higher property taxes.


Because of the way property taxes are structured in Arizona, any decrease in the commercial property assessment ratio will shift a higher tax burden onto homeowners. School districts and other entities that levy property taxes set their rates to reach a certain dollar amount, and when one rate is lowered, others rise accordingly.

PHOENIX (AP) — A statewide business-backed advocacy group reports that the recession's impact on real estate is showing up again as a major decrease in assessed valuations for property taxes.


The Arizona Tax Research Association reports an 18 percent drop in secondary net assessed values this year, adding up to a 28 percent drop when last year's decrease is factored in.

The group says the decrease in valuations mean taxpayers can expect another round of tax rate increases to fund government operations as well as voter-approved bonds and spending overrides.

Arizona has been able to attract Internet businesses in part because it does not tax online sales. But the "tax or not to tax" debate still rages in some quarters.


Internet retailers generally cannot be forced to collect state sales tax, although Arizonans are supposed to pay "use taxes" for any online purchases they make for which they pay no Arizona sales tax.

Pima County residents pay a primary property tax rate that's nearly three times that of taxpayers living in Maricopa County.


It's a comparison that has long attracted notice, particularly for folks in Phoenix who like to hold it up as an example of Southern Arizona's out-of-control spending.

Deciding whether the difference is out of whack, however, requires making sure there aren't some oranges mixed in with the apples.

Pima County taxpayers in fiscal year 2012 will pay a primary tax rate of $3.41 per $100 of assessed valuation.

For the first time since metro Phoenix home values crashed, most of the region's homeowners can expect a noticeable drop in their property taxes.


Maricopa County property-tax bills are being mailed this week, and the average homeowner bill is expected to decline more than $60 from last year's bill.

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The bills reflect taxes from a variety of cities, school districts and other taxation districts, which take a percentage of a property's assessed value each year.

Arizona's finances are in a world of hurt.


We've seen revenue plummet. Agencies have gone through repeated rounds of cuts. The state made national headlines when it mortgaged the Capitol.

What does this say about our state tax system?

Should we overhaul it?

Raise rates? Lower rates? Flatten them? Change what we tax?

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council is rebooting its signature bill from the 2011 legislative session with some substantial changes that may help it avoid another veto.


And there will be a change in style as well as substance. Rather than push the bill itself, as GPEC did last session, the economic development organization is reaching out to other business groups it hopes will adopt the proposal as their own.