Gov. Jan Brewer wants to slash corporate income taxes and let some corporations escape the levy entirely.
The proposals were unveiled Tuesday in the governor's list of priorities which she sent to lawmakers. Brewer did not give a regular State of the State address at the beginning of the legislative session last week in the wake of the shootings in Tucson.
Brewer also wants to create a statewide "enterprise zone'' that would reward businesses that locate or expand in Arizona with temporary but deep cuts in their property taxes and state income tax credits.
The changes could result in large decreases in the tax burden on businesses -- eventually.
Brewer has been reticent to cut taxes for businesses while Arizonans are paying a 1-cent surcharge on state sales taxes to balance the budget. That temporary levy expires at the end of May 2013.
But the governor wants lawmakers to enact the proposals now, with a delayed effective date, to send an early signal to businesses that are looking for places to locate or expand.
Heading the governor's list are the two changes in corporate income taxes.
Arizona corporations now pay at a rate of slightly less than 7 percent. Brewer said that makes Arizona less competitive than surrounding states in convincing companies to locate here.
She wants Arizona at the "regional average,'' a figure she pegged at just below 5 percent.
Some multi-state corporations, however, could owe nothing at all.
Current law has each company determine how much of its overall income should be attributed to -- and taxed by -- Arizona based on a formula: Half is based on the share of sales in the state, with the other half divided equally between the amount of property and the size of the payroll.
To encourage manufacturers, the state already allows corporations to choose an alternate formula based 80 percent on Arizona sales. Brewer wants to take that figure to 100 percent.
That would mean an Arizona manufacturer which sells everything it makes in other states or countries would owe nothing at all.
Proponents say anything Arizona would not get in corporate income taxes would be more than made up by the income and sales taxes paid by the workers with the new jobs as well as taxes paid by suppliers.
The enterprise zone proposal would expand an existing program now specifically aimed at companies that agree to locate in areas of the state with high poverty or unemployment. Brewer wants the entire state designated an enterprise zone.
Firms which locate there get tax credits that offset a share of each new worker's salary for up to three years. To qualify, though, the companies need to pay hourly wages at least equal to the average, which varies by county.
Companies that make a capital investment of at least $500,000 also get an 80 percent break in their property taxes for five years.
Brewer's plan does not include another priority of the business community: A change in how businesses are assessed for property tax purposes to reduce the burden.
That decision, though, is not surprising.
Anything which reduces what businesses pay results in a commensurate increase on everyone else. And Brewer told Capitol Media Services she would never accede to anything that hikes the property tax burden on homeowners.
snipes posted at 6:24 pm on Tue, Jan 18, 2011.
So Brewer's plan is to cut corporate taxes while simultaneously raising college tuition.
Yep, that's Brewer!
IceCat posted at 7:20 pm on Tue, Jan 18, 2011.
[sad] Some people never learn. The State of Arizona has been over this path before, cutting corporate taxes doesn't equal job growth.
DataMan posted at 8:33 pm on Tue, Jan 18, 2011.
AZ already has some of the lowest business taxes in the US. And giving more breaks won't bring companies here when she talks about headless bodies, rising crime rates, poor education, a poorly educated workforce, and allows Pearce to run wild with wacky bills
Doesn't Jan know that for the CURRENT budget year she is $825m short (though she lied and said it was balanced during the election), and cutting state revenue won't help that at all?
wdgnas posted at 6:32 am on Wed, Jan 19, 2011.
will more jobs be created? doubtful. where are the brewer supporters? your silence is deafening...
rrjenn posted at 2:01 pm on Wed, Jan 19, 2011.
Back when President Reagan slashed taxes everyone said that would cause many problems for the economy, but in truth there were more taxes taken in as a result of lowering taxes and unemployment went down. Dumbocrats are short sighted tax and spend tards that, like socialism, destroy economies. Give businesses more of their own money and there will be more jobs and more taxes generated. It works every time they lower taxes.
wdgnas posted at 6:21 am on Thu, Jan 20, 2011.
Give businesses more of their own money and there will be more jobs and more taxes generated. It works every time they lower taxes.
that must be why arizona is swimming in cash. businesses have been getting tax breaks for years. where are the jobs?
rrjenn posted at 8:48 am on Thu, Jan 20, 2011.
wdgnas, obviously the problems are deep, and many solutions will be necessary, but raising corporate taxes would do more to hurt us by driving businesses away and driving unemployment up. Other states like Texas have lowered their corporate taxes and businesses are moving there. We also have a large illegal population that is costing our state dearly, but not so dearly as California, where the welfare costs are nearly bankrupting them. Governor (moonbeam) Brown of California is raising taxes for everyone due to their extraordinary state welfare costs. We will see some of the business that move away from Calif coming here. What do you want? Do you want more jobs or more welfare? Right now as you read this, we could have anywhere from 300 to 400 more jobs opening up if we were allowed to go after businesses that employ illegal aliens. This country is going to be in for a very rough ride if we don't start making hard decisions now.
rrjenn posted at 8:50 am on Thu, Jan 20, 2011.
My proofreader is on vacation this week.
Right now as you read this, we could have anywhere from 300 to 400 "THOUSAND" more jobs opening up if we were allowed to go after businesses that employ illegal aliens.
rrffcc1 posted at 8:54 am on Thu, Jan 20, 2011.
WDGNAS - exactly. Well said.
Should become the single most repeated reply to every one of these long-disproven campaign platform issues --
WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
rrjenn posted at 11:12 am on Thu, Jan 20, 2011.
rrffcc1, WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
So, how many illegal aliens working in our state do you know?
Up to 400 thousand working in Arizona right now.
As many as 1 out of 5 or 10 Arizonans out of 6,595,778 total population is out of work. That works out to as many as 660,000 to 1,320,000 Arizonans on unemployment. Stopping business from hiring illegal aliens would cut unemployment by anywhere from 25% to more than 50%
You figure it out dufus.
maktak posted at 1:06 pm on Thu, Jan 20, 2011.
So cutting taxes for corporations (the vast majority of which are not even based in Arizona) in the midst of a huge budget shortfall makes sense, but we'll cut transplants, healthcare, and college tuition aid. OK Jan, you've got me stumped! It must be Opposite Day or something.
rrjenn posted at 4:00 pm on Thu, Jan 20, 2011.
Well maktak, if we rid ourselves of the illegal aliens that are in fact taking the same jobs Arizonans would do, we could cut unemployment in half. Wouldn't have to cut nearly as much that way, but you people don't want to do the hard choices.
rrjenn posted at 12:14 am on Fri, Jan 21, 2011.
Lets take a look at how things could be worse. Welfare benefits for the children of illegal immigrants cost America’s largest county more than $600 million last year, according to a local official keeping tabs on the cost.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich released new statistics this week showing social spending for those families in his county rose to $53 million in November, putting the county government on track to spend more than $600 million on related costs for the year—up from $570 million in 2009.
It isn't even half that bad anywhere in Arizona yet getting these parasites off the dole would just about put us in the black.
Antonovich arrived at the estimate by factoring in the cost of food stamps and welfare-style benefits through a state program known as CalWORKS. Combined with public safety costs and health care costs, the official claimed the “total cost for illegal immigrants to county taxpayers” was more than $1.6 billion in 2010.
“Not including the hundreds of millions of dollars for education,” he said in a statement.
Antonovich acknowledges that the children whose benefits he’s focusing on are U.S.-born. But he argues that the money is collected by the illegal immigrant parents, putting a painful burden on taxpayers, including those who are legal immigrants.
“The problem is illegal immigration. . . . Their parents evidently immigrated here in order to get on social services,” Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell said. “We can no longer afford to be HMO to the world.”
wdgnas posted at 5:45 am on Fri, Jan 21, 2011.
more jobs may have been created, in china or india... once again i ask the question. where are the jobs?
rrjenn posted at 9:39 am on Fri, Jan 21, 2011.
You are asking the wrong people where the jobs are. Go ask an illegal alien working in this state with a false social security number. Most don't even bother with false papers cause the boss doesn't ask for them and doesn't care. Go ask La Ratza where the jobs are. How can you even ask where the jobs are when you know d@mn well that 400 thousand illegals have them tied up, and you cr@p your pants every time someone suggests we send the parasites home?
wdgnas posted at 7:45 am on Sat, Jan 22, 2011.
sound like you have your panties in a wad. i am all for sending the illegal immigrants home. if you have read any of my posts, i have been harping on the chamber of commerce for lobbying to kill the latest version of don't ask don't tell. you know the employer sanctions bill. when will the businesses that hire the illegal immigrants be closed down? that's right, i keep forgetting. what's good for business is good for america...
rrjenn posted at 12:47 pm on Sat, Jan 22, 2011.
wdgnas, it just angers me that one of the biggest problems cities and states face isn't talked about, and when it is, people on the right are called Nazis and racists, and you're not the only one asking where the jobs are. We the people need to start demanding our government stop allowing companies to ship their jobs overseas while selling in the US. We should raise tariffs on all companies that have shipped their plants overseas and for any that are considering it now. We should raise tariffs on country's that have lower production costs than we do. We are allowing countries like China to raid America while we can't sell there because our production costs are too high. The business of America should be with its people and not with corporations. What is good for American corporations is not always good for its people. Corporations not centered in AZ should not be given a lowered tax. Do corporations not located here in AZ pay AZ taxes? maktak says the vast majority of corporations that will get their taxes lowered aren't centered here, but I don't think so.
wdgnas posted at 7:20 am on Sun, Jan 23, 2011.
rrjenn, thank you for the civil response. we agree on more points than we disagree.