by Cameron Arcand
The Arizona House Ways and Means Committee voted to move forward a bill that would scrap the rent tax at the city, town and county levels.
If enacted, House Bill 2067 would not allow someone to face a tax if they’re leasing property for residential purposes, starting on Jan. 1, 2024.
Rep. Neal Carter, R-San Tan Valley, told the committee that this would serve as needed financial relief.
“A tax on rent is anti-progressive. It inordinately affects the poor. Those who are renting, after all, we don’t tax mortgages,” Carter said Wednesday. “There are states that do. I used to run a title company in New York and they had a stamp tax for mortgages. We do not, so we are instead shifting that tax burden to renters, who are typically lower-income people.”
This would not apply to lodging, like hotels and motels, “health care facilities” including long-term care, and “other transient lodging businesses,” according to the bill.
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee noted that municipalities would lose $89.6 million in revenue in the fiscal year 2024, and $230.2 million in the fiscal year 2025 as a result.
“We cannot afford to have any more cuts to our budget and our revenue. Rural communities do not have the opportunity, as many others do, to grow,” Superior Mayor Mila Besich-Lira said in opposition to the bill.
Sen. Steve Kaiser, R-Phoenix, has a similar bill making its way through the Senate, but it would instead start on Oct. 1, 2024, based on the current version of the bill.
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Cameron Arcand is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “Neal Carter” by Arizona State Legislature. Background Photo “Apartments” by Zachary DeBottis.
