According to alarm business owners, the City of Tucson is threatening them if they do not continue to pay communications tax on revenues collected from alarm monitoring.
Alarm business owners report that Dave Philips of Tucson Tax and Licensing said that if the tax was not paid, “The City may arrest you. That would be under the most extreme case.”
One alarm business owner claimed that he called Philips and advised him that HB2546 passed and was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer last year. HB2546, which exempts all tax on monitoring, State wide, took effect on January 1st, 2015. Philips responded, “That is your opinion.” Phillips refused to acknowledge existing State law, the State Constitution, “or listen to any reason,” said the business owner. “All Mr. Philips would do is continue to threaten arrest if I did not succumb to his bullying tactics of taking my money.”
Roger D. Score, owner of Tucson Alarm Company, claims the City of Tucson often threatens businesses with arrest, but then stops there. When the City knows they are in conflict with State law, they attempt to bully local business owners into submitting to the City, but they do not follow through with their threats.
During a recent Senate Committee, LD9 Representative Friese suggested that Score sue the City of Tucson. Mr. Score feels that suing the City would be an attack against the citizens of the Tucson and only benefit the attorneys who “pad their pockets with taxpayer money” while defending the City. Score says he would rather turn to the Arizona Legislature to add teeth to existing laws, that protects the citizens and local business owners against these threats from municipalities.
The City of Tucson has taken the same action in the past, when it threatened alarm businesses to submit to the City’s alarm business and employee licensing requiring the submittion of client lists to the police department, but laws were in conflict with State pre-emption. While the City did arrest anyone, many alarm businesses submitted to the City’s threats and relinquished their rights. Score says, “After going through things like this, I strongly support the passage of HB2297, a bill that has passed Committee and is moving forward at the State Legislature. We are blessed to have a State Legislature focussed on reducing burden upon job providers in this State and I greatly appreciate Representative E. Farnsworth sponsoring HB2297.”
The City’s pawn tax has also come under fire this year. HB2480, a current bill before the Legislature, is intended to eliminate the pawn tax and taxes against those businesses buying gold, with the intent of reselling such items. The State Constitution exempts all goods, from taxation, that a business purchases solely with the intent to resell. Representative Petersen is the Sponsor of HB2480 and he views the tax as a direct tax against the poor and citizens who have already suffered during difficult economic times.