Trouble ‘Brewering’ over corporate welfare tax give-away package

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Guardian (subscription required) reports that the Accidental Governor is proposing an "Arizona Jobs Package" (where was this proposal at the beginning of the legislative session? Or last year?) vastly different – and much less expensive -from House Speaker Kirk Adams' corporate welfare tax give-away package that he laughingly refers to as a "jobs creation bill."

As Rep. Steve Farley reported, the GOP insane clown posse leadership has set April 29th as the target date for sine die. But trouble is "Brewering" over the substance of this tax bill. "Brewer's proposal essentially guts Adams' bill, eliminating the phased-in corporate income and property tax cuts that would cost the state $200 million by 2015 and nearly $550 million when fully implemented in 2018." Adams, of course, as he is wont to do, dismissed the Accidental Governor's proposal.

Howard Fischer has more Brewer opposing income tax cuts for businesses:

Gov. Jan Brewer wants no income tax cuts for corporations.

Brewer, crafting her own version of an economic stimulus plan, also rejected provisions in a House-passed proposal that would allow some multistate corporations to escape paying any income taxes at all in Arizona. She also is opposed to repealing the state property tax.

And the governor does not want to alter how businesses are assessed for tax purposes for voter-approved bonds and school overrides.

The bottom line is that Brewer's counterproposal to the House plan, when fully implemented, would reduce total business taxes in the state by less than $50 million a year. That compares with tax cuts of $950 million in the original House version of HB 2250 and close to $650 million in a modified plan proffered by House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, as a compromise.

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The governor's objections, however, should come as no surprise: Brewer has said all along she did not want to enact major tax cuts while the state is digging its way out of a deficit.

The legislation comes as Brewer is trying to persuade voters to approve a temporary 1-cent-per-dollar hike in the state sales tax that would generate $3 billion over its three-year life. Foes of that May 18 vote already have said consumers should not provide more cash to the state only to have the dollars go out the back door in tax breaks for business.

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Gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said Brewer believes the state can generate new business with "targeted and responsible" changes in tax policy that do not undermine the state's fiscal bottom line.

Changes Brewer supports would provide tax breaks when companies build or expand here, hiring new workers. Senseman said this would have minimal impact on existing tax collections.

It's starting to look like we may have a fight on our hands between the Grover Norquist Republicans who want to drown the state of Arizona in the bathtub and a gubernatorial candidate who has come to realize late in life that a governor must be fiscally responsible. This may take awhile.