Stop Bills for Billionaires
Invest in Kids, Safety and Health instead!
These bills are not economic development. Economic development should be an investment that has a good ROI,
that is– the “Get” for the public should be better than the “Give” the taxpayers pay.
These bad bills are subsidies from the middle class to the wealthiest few, the “zillionaires” and big corporations.
Taxpayers give more than they get with these bad deals.
To bills that ratchet down revenue, bills that bailout billionaires, and bills that support criminal crypto drug cartels, we say "Stop!"
| Bill No. | Sponsor | Short Description | Bill Explanation |
| SB1126 | Shope | Private racehorse owners get millions in subsidies. We say, "NEIGH!" | Moves money from fantasy sports gambling that currently goes to the General Fund (such as for schools, roads, health…) |
| to subsidize horse racing and associated gambling. | |||
| Loss of about $10 million in revenue | |||
| SB1085 | Dunn | Private jet owners get a free ride to vacation on an island paradise, but you have to pay sales tax when you buy or repair your car to get to work. | Tax cut for private jet owners to not pay sales tax on buying, repairing or upgrading their Lear jets or Cessnas! |
| Loss of probably tens of millions in revenue | |||
| SB1318 | Mesnard - Also SCR1014 | Cuts to education and services: Automatically ratchets down revenue from income tax, without looking at what state services and programs are unfunded, under funded or are getting cut, EVERY YEAR. Creates an endless cycle of Cuts to education and services, followed by tax cuts, and further cuts to education and services the next year. | It's a tax rate cut to 2.39% based on half of the expected 2029 budget year surplus, leading to $291 million in budget cuts. This is a version of the "TABOR" scheme that Colorado currently uses, and it causes great harm to the people. Like a zombie, it keeps coming back in Arizona, and year after year, sensible people say, "NO. NO. NO. NO!" Loss of about $175 million, ongoing deeper cuts each year ... READ More at the BLOG-click here. |
| SB1331 | Mesnard | massive subsidy for wealthy people whose income is from investments -- expansion of the capital gains tax loophole. | Retirees need protection of their nest-egg savings, and the federal capital gains deduction is good for that. This bill further reduces state income tax which is a paltry 2.5%. |
| * It is not just for your retirement safety-net. | |||
| * This bill declares that very wealthy people whose only income is from investments (IE: they don't earn wages or a salary) should not pay taxes on their income. That is UNFAIR! This idea needs a cap at an appropriate level of income. | |||
| * Yes for low-income and middle class retirees, NO for billionaires. | |||
| $40 to $60 million less revenue, hurting education, healthcare... | |||
| SB1096 | Hoffman | Taxpayers would pay for a bullion depository, like a bank for gold and silver. Think of the cartoon where Scrooge McDuck dives into his bin of gold coins. | The state of Arizona should NOT prop up one kind of investment over another. The markets and consumers should decide which businesses win or lose, not lobbyists. The state should not pick winners or losers. Taxpayers do not want to transfer their hard-earned dollars to the wealthiest few. CLICK for more in the Blog. |
| HB2704 | Weninger | Billionaire Baseball Boondoggle that would use | Ken Kendrick, one of the 4 owners of AZ Baseball is literally a billionaire. The Stadium contributes to their private profits. In 2024, they received about $328 mil in revenue just from baseball. They get sports betting money and money from concerts at the stadium, in addition to their baseball income. |
| public dollars for private profits. | *Over 130 studies show that the public benefit is negligible when public money is used for stadiums. | ||
| Diamondbacks Stadium Subsidy to divert sales tax, and income tax revenue away from education and roads to be used for baseball stadium repairs. | * Even without this bill, the public is already subsidizing the team: They pay no rent, and they pay no property taxes. They are required per agreement with the County to pay for repairs. That agreement requires the D-backs to pay $2 mil per year for repairs to a special repair fund. | ||
| * That means the middle class is paying MORE to subsidize folks who can afford a ballgame -- around $200 for a family of 4. | |||
| Read more in the blog -click here. | * Cuts to cities (childcare, parks, public safety) Cuts to counties (ROADS), and cuts to state (education, housing , healthcare...) | ||
| If the team gets $328 mil per year for baseball, why do they need YOU, the taxpayer, to pay another $20 mil for stadium repairs? | Loss of $3 mil for Phoenix City each year, and loss of $10 to $30 mil to state each year - up to $1 billion over 30 years | ||
| SB1407 | Dunn | Loophole for big corporate agriculture in property taxes. It would treat an enormous commercial greenhouse on a corporate farm as though it is just a tractor, despite being as big as a factory. | As amended: certain greenhouses will be valued as Ag personal property instead of Ag or commercial real property. Shifts millions of dollars in property tax liability to homeowners. |
| SB1371 | Mesnard | Income Tax Carve Out, Loophole. Zeroes out taxes on 401(K) and IRA income for those over 67 years old, even for very high-income levels. It only helps people who had enough income to save in a 401(k) or IRA. | If passed, older zillionaires would get a free ride and young workers would pay for it. Instead, tax breaks should be based on income with breaks for lower income earners, regardless of how it is earned. |
| Loss of $130 million | |||
| SB1298 | Kavanagh | Wildly expanded property tax exemption for buildings just because it's a church or other religious organization paying for the building. No guardrails, vague language. It is open for abuse. | Problem: Tax exemptions for A NONPROFIT doing a specific good can be good policy, but a tax exemption because an organization is religious is a violation of the separation of church and state. |
| Sponsor said, "Where the priest lives is already tax exempt. This allows them to construct charitable housing and earn income, and it would be exempt from property tax." | |||
| SB1026 | Rogers - also SCR1001 | Exempts crypto from property tax. - It is not property; this is the most bizarre of bills. | Crypto is not property. It is an asset. It is taxed like shares of Tesla, or shares of Disney. This bill is perniciously trying to establish "virtual currency" as having value, but that should be left to markets to decide, not lawmakers. The state should continue to treat cryptocurrency as an asset, like all other assets. |
| SB1015 | Rogers | Pre-empts cities, counties, and towns from regulating or taxing a node on a block-chain, a kind of computer database. Favors for Crypto owners for no reason and makes you wonder, "Why?" | Running a node is generally very expensive and can be a big drain on local water and electricity. That high demand for electricity can even cause the electricity prices to Increase. This is a tax-loophole for "crypto-bros", the elite few who can afford a computer rig for a node and have the expertise. Loopholes for the few cause everybody else to pay more. |
| HB2918 | Olson | Large Scale tax cuts across sales, property, and income taxes. Just arbitrary cuts to revenue that are likely to result in cuts to education, roads, etc. | Arizona has a high sales tax rate - 8, 9, up to 10% in some places. Our income tax rate is only 2.5%. The more wealth a person has, the more they do not use their income for things that require that high sales tax. They use their income for more services, which are not taxed. Cutting the income tax means cutting the only tax they do pay, as a practical percentage. This bill makes our REGRESSIVE tax structure more unfair, and forces budget cuts -- or an unbalanced budget. |
| Loss of $200 M or more, year after year. | |||
| ( $131.6 M in FY 26, $206.2 M in FY 27 and $215.3 M in FY 28) | |||
| HB2635 | Gress | Exempts TPT (sales tax) on safe firearm storage devices. Favors gun owners. | This bill is so badly written, a zillionaire could build a wing of their house with a lock on the door, and get a big sales tax loophole for all of it! The more expensive the storage device, the more revenue we lose from sales tax. A sales tax exemption will not induce anybody to buy a safe storage device, but education and other means will. |
| HB2601 | Kupper | Income tax loophole: exempts minors from income taxes on first $50,000. Opens a big window for fraud and abuse. | This bill opens a huge loophole for very wealthy parents to "pay" wages to their children, and the parents escape paying their full income tax. |
| Loss of $8 mil | |||
| HB2389 | Carter N | Exempts most locally-assessed personal property from taxation (Ex: equipment in a factory) | Some big corporations use so many loopholes in sales tax and income tax that they pay only the minimum income tax, $50. They can wiggle out of paying in many ways. But assessors can see that they have big equipment and other "personal property" of the business, so it can be taxed. This bill removes those items from being taxed. *** Small businesses already have a big deduction so that they do not have to pay this property tax already. This bill helps the biggest corporations to not pay What They Owe for public roads, public safety, and public education. |
| Loss of $14.8 million and a big shift of property tax liability to homeowners. | |||
| HB2082 | Griffin | Exempts wastewater pipes from TPT, sales tax | The 4-inch pipe loophole is already a subsidy for Southwest Gas Corporation, and this bill would expand it for more for-profit corporations to not pay What They Owe for public roads, public safety, and public education. This bill is a classic example of a special interest paying lobbyists to push for a tax loophole, for no good reason at all. |
| HB2081 | Griffin | Exempts tips from income taxes. It is very bad policy to tax one kind of work, but not another. | The bill would allow ANYTHING to be called, "tips" and not be taxed. Commissions for hedge-fund managers, and many other examples could be ripe for abuse. |
| If a bartender and a firefighter both earn $80,000, why should the firefighter pay taxes, but not the bartender? ????? | |||
| Loss of $31 million or more |