FIRST,  Call your AZ State Lawmakers:   Click here for email and phone numbers to legislators. 

Then, read as much as you want below,  and Scroll to the bottom to sign the petition if you want to make a bigger impact with your voice.   

Fund Education First,  before more corporate giveaways.  

1. What does the bill do?   Public money for private profits.

The bill commits state sales tax revenue to be used to build infrastructure that private manufacturing companies will use to make profits.    Infrastructure might be something like a water treatment plant or roads. 

It diverts sales tax revenue away from Tolleson and Kingman to help Chandler and Phoenix.

• The manufacturer might pay for part of the infrastructure,  but neither the current law nor the bill requires the manufacturer to pay for it.   
• The current law requires the state to pay for 80% of the cost of infrastructure that a city negotiates.  The state has no control and no say in the cost of the project.  The city has no incentive to keep the project costs down because the state must pay 80% of it. 
• 100% of the corporation’s construction sales taxes  can be diverted away from schools, public safety, etc.   That is too much.

HB2809 deserves a NAY vote now,  to cap this carve-out ,  or so that we can negotiate reasonable terms in the law in the interim.

Fund Education First,  before more corporate giveaways.  

2.  HB2809 will cost at least another $100 million more. 

We do not have an extra $100 million in the budget.  When revenue from construction TPT (sales tax)  comes into the General Fund,  we need that for our state responsibilities first.  Voting Yes to HB2809 means NO to education (public and private)  No to housing,  No to healthcare,  etc.   All to help only 3 private companies. 

 This bill also diverts $100 million away from roads that are actually public roads.   It diverts money away from fixing potholes,  and away from building the public roads we need in Arizona.  

HB2809 deserves a NAY vote now,  because large costs like this should be part of budget negotiations,  not voted in silos.        

  3. Priorities:  Is a carve-out for big corporations what you want most?

Voting yes on HB2809 makes paying for corporate water treatment plants with public money a commitment that must be done instead of funding K12 education,  homelessness, rural firefighters, and everything else. 

Fund Education First,  before more corporate giveaways

  4.   Who will pay for it?

• JLBC scored it at $106 million paid by the General Fund -- That means You pay for it.  Our taxes in Arizona are regressive,  so the less income you have,  the higher the percentage of your income you pay for this carve-out to corporations. 
• Cities will lose $6.1 million in revenue for childcare, parks, homelessness,  etc.
• Counties will lose another $10 million. 

HB2809 deserves a NAY vote because working families carry too much of the tax burden in Arizona,  and HB2809 makes it even worse for them. 

See the JLBC Fiscal Note.  

  5. Economic development tools like HB2809 should be considered in a holistic way,  not as one idea in a silo.   

Economic Development in Arizona:   We already have a lot of tax favors to corporations.

• Property tax carve-out:   in a foreign trade zone or military reuse zone, their assessed value ratio is only 5%.   That means homeowners have a rate that is 2 times more,  and  other businesses  endure a property tax ratio that is 3 times higher. 
• Income Taxes --  There are 16 corporate Income Tax breaks in Arizona Revised Statutes,  including:
  • Quality Jobs   that  costs taxpayers  $90 million per year 
  • Credit for renewable energy
  • Credit for Qualified facilities
  • And the R&D  Tax credit for expanding research in Arizona --
         is used so much that the carry-over alone is over $2 billion! 
    Even so,  it's a good economic development tool.  But HB2809 is too much .
  • Corporations that buy coal to generate electricity get a 30% tax credit on the sales tax they paid for the coal.
  • Corporate Tax Credits to private schools are over $150 million per year. 
  • Min corporate income tax is $50,  and a lot of corporations pay only that.
• Corporations get a Big Tax Break  in what is known as the sales factor formula,  which allows corporations to choose a formula to get the lowest tax liability,  not what is a fair measure for all taxpayers. 
• Manufacturing Corporations get some special tax breaks:
  • The AZ Commerce Authority spends money to recruit corporations to come to Arizona via the AZ Competes Fund. 
  • Manufacturers get lower business personal property taxes because of the accelerated depreciation schedule.
  • They pay No  Sales Tax   on  Electricity,  utilities,  machinery,  and equipment and clean room construction.
• These are just the Arizona tax breaks.  There are plenty more ways that the federal government is helping manufacturers,  including the CHIPS Act. And those are good.  But HB2809 is too much at this time in Arizona. 

  6.  Why don't the Manufacturers pay for their own roads and water treatment plants?

That's a good question!    Intel paid $6 billion  to investors in 2022,  from their profits. 

But they probably paid a lot in taxes,  too,  right?  -- nope.   A financial report to investors in Intel showed that the corporation was a net RECEIVER.   Intel has a negative tax rate.   That means Taxpayers Paid Intel more than Intel paid in taxes in 2022.    Click here for the report   

Do you want your tax dollars to pay for a private company’s facilities?     

Fund Education First,  and fund roads that are actually public,  before more corporate giveaways.  

Sign the petition below if you agree: 

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