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Pension debt punt could cost Phoenix taxpayers $2.3 billion

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/06/15/phoenix-pe…

Soaring pension costs are strangling Phoenix’s city budget, but city officials are weighing a plan to ease the near-term misery: Punt on paying pension debt, and spend big later.

The maneuver could cost the city up to an additional $2.3 billion in police and fire pension costs over the next 30 years — and possibly much more if investments don’t perform as assumed.

Public school advocates hold some inequities sacrosanct

http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/05/25/public-school-advocates-hold-…

It was a surprise and a pleasure to see the Arizona School Boards Association President Tim Ogle weigh in so publicly about his concerns with equitable school funding. On this point, taxpayers and school advocates should be in harmony: Arizona’s outmoded funding formula is ill designed for the 21st century.

Taxpayer financial privacy outweighs third-party efficiencies

Another tax season has passed and of the millions of law-abiding taxpayers who filed, many had to wonder if their private financial information would remain secure. There is ample evidence to justify taxpayer concerns about confidentiality and security. In 2013, Maricopa Community College District notified over 2 million individuals of a massive data breach and there are countless other examples that have occurred across the country.

2017: Robb: This tax incentive is a fraud and an abuse

Finally, a tax incentive got too big for its britches, triggering a backlash.

The bloated incentive in question is the misnamed government property lease excise tax, or GPLET in tax wonk circles.

At root, GPLET is a fraud and an abuse.

Under the Arizona Constitution, government property is exempt from property taxes. With a GPLET, a developer pretends to convey its project to the city, removing it from the property tax rolls. The city then leases it back to the developer.

2017: Ending tax subsidies won’t mean an end to development

http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/03/16/ending-tax-subsidies-wont-mea…

When I moved my family to Gilbert 20 years ago, my friends would laugh and ask where the rest stop was on the way there. Arizonans know well what has occurred since then. On top of being one of the fastest growing municipalities in America, the town now sports a surging downtown along Gilbert road. And they did it without giving away tax subsidies to developers. Bravo, Gilbert.

House committee kills bill requiring review of sales tax exemptions

http://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/house-committee-kills-bill-re…

PHOENIX — Saying it would send the wrong message, Republican lawmakers voted Wednesday to kill legislation that would simply require them to review the $12 billion a year the state could potentially collect in sales taxes if all exemptions and exclusions were eliminated.

2017: Arizona House passes compromise changes to GPLET property tax breaks

The Arizona House of Representatives voted 50 to 8 Wednesday approving compromised changes to property tax breaks used by cities for big developments and jobs projects.

The House approved an amended version of House Bill 2231 dealing with Government Property Lease Excise Taxes.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/02/22/arizona-house-passes…
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