On Monday, the Arizona State Senate passed a repeal of the food tax. The measure passed on a party line vote of 16-13-1.
We just passed out a repeal of the food tax! All of the Democrats voted no . pic.twitter.com/RdfXmLAK21
— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) February 27, 2023
With Arizonans struggling to keep up with rising prices on the basics, the bill has enjoyed bipartisan support everywhere but in the Legislature.
Cities and towns have objected to the relief for families through tax cuts arguing that they need the tax revenue. However, legislators argue that currently, state and local governments in Arizona are financially strong and that the municipalities should be doing well enough without the added revenue.
Republicans say that the cities and towns will be receiving more money in state-shared revenues to offset these tax cuts. Republicans note that from fiscal years 2019 to 2022, state-shared revenues from both sales and income taxes combined grew by $330 million, or 27%. This increase is on top of any sales taxes or property taxes individually levied by each city. Between this fiscal year and next, those shared revenues are expected to grow by an additional $889 million. In fact, over the next four fiscal years, municipalities are estimated to receive an average of $2.3 billion per year in state-shared revenues, which is an increase of $844 million more than the average for the past four fiscal years.
Sadly for taxpayers, the united Democratic opposition is a strong indication that a veto from Governor Hobbs is likely.