AZ BUSINESS TAX CUTS: WHAT'S THE ROI?

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona Week is exploring for Friday's program the state Legislature's package of business tax cuts, working their way through committees and to the floors of both chambers soon.

A series of bills, with slight differences in the House and the Senate, would reduce what multi-state corporations must pay in states taxes on their sales, reduce the corporate income tax rate and reduce property tax rates on business real estate and business equipment. The reductions would be phased in over the next several years.

The idea is to create a business-friendly atmosphere that will attract new businesses to the state and more jobs. It's a key part of Gov. Jan Brewer's larger economic development strategy, to be led by the state's newly formed Commerce Authority.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee analyzed the the bills and estimated that at full implemented, six years from now, they would have reduced corporate taxes paid to Arizona by $475 million total. That's 5.5 percent of the current state budget.

The committee has not released estimates of numbers of jobs that would be created -- and thus increased state revenues from them and more business in Arizona -- by implementing the tax cuts.

We will detail the tax cuts package, what it means for businesses and seek expertise for Friday's program to show what kind of an ROI -- return on investment -- there would be to the state for these cuts.