SB1783 is a tax cut for the rich and does nothing to help small businesses
Senate Bill 1783 allows rich individual tax filers to remove profits from their businesses, trusts, and estates from the calculation of their individual taxable income so that they can avoid paying the surcharge established by Proposition 208 to fund public schools.
By reducing revenue promised by the passage of Proposition 208, SB1783 will be devastating for Arizona’s economy at a time when Arizonans are struggling to recover from the COVID-19 health and economic crisis. SB1783 will worsen Arizona’s teacher shortage, increase class sizes, and hurt rural communities that are counting on the revenue from Prop 208 to boost their local economies—all while ignoring the will of nearly 1.7 million voters who supported Prop 208.
Don’t let the bill’s title mislead you, this legislation provides no benefit for local “mom and pop” small businesses. It especially does nothing for the thousands of Arizona small businesses that are struggling to keep their doors open during these challenging times. The only people who would want to use the “alternative tax filing” method provided by this bill are rich or very high-income individuals who want to exclude the profits from their businesses, trusts and estates so they don’t have to pay their fair share in taxes to support Arizona’s public schools.
This pandemic has shown us that we need to build a better Arizona, so that people have good jobs with good wages and businesses are open and employing people. Instead, politicians at the state capitol are spending their time giving a tax break to the wealthy top one percent of earners who are still doing quite well during these challenging times. Tell those lawmakers to get their priorities straight and vote NO on SB1783.
