Voters to decide on business tax in November

Arizona voters will decide in November whether to reduce property taxes, but not for themselves.

You'll be voting on whether to raise the exemption for businesses, who pay taxes on every piece of equipment they own.Voters previously okayed exemptions, with inflation, on the first $68,000 of value. Proposition 116 would raise that to about $2.4 million.

Farrell Quinlan of the National Federation of Independent Business says the jump makes sense for economic development.

"When we make it more difficult for them to buy that equipment or machinery, or upgrade to make themselves more efficient and more competitive, we make it harder for them to hire workers or in some cases even keep the workers they have," Quinlan said.

If Prop 116 is approved, the tax burden will be shifted to homeowners, but not right away. Under the measure the shift will take place at a much slower-than-normal rate, which Quinlan says will hopefully be offset by faster economic growth. So far there is no organized opposition to the measure.

Listen:

Pledge Now
Give Monthly
Facebook logo
Twitter logo

Please read our Contributor Confidentiality Policy and the KJZZ Ethics and Practices guidelines. KJZZ supports Equal Employment Opportunities and works against discrimination in employment. For more information, please see KJZZ's Employment and EEO Information page.
For questions or comments about this website, please contact the KJZZ webmaster. For general comments or questions see the Contact KJZZ page for a listing of contacts by topic. Please note: Station policy mandates that listeners who win on-air giveaways on this station are not eligible to win again for 30 days.
Email regarding NPR's coverage, ethics, and funding can be sent to the NPR Ombudsman, who maintains an informative web page. For comments or concerns regarding NPR programs, listeners with a general inquiry may send an email to nprhelp@npr.org

KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College, and Maricopa Community Colleges.
Copyright© 2013 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD