By Roc Arnett, president and CEO of the East Valley Partnership
The East Valley Partnership recognizes the need to streamline and improve our state’s tax system. That is why we support the major tenets of Gov.Jan Brewer’s plan to reform Arizona’s Transaction Privilege Tax, or TPT, that is currently burdensome for businesses and puts local merchants at a disadvantage to out-of-state Internet retailers.
But our strong support for this simplification plan comes with a caveat: Any legislation that seeks to streamline the tax system must not punish cities and towns. Unfortunately, one part of the current proposal would do just that.
Our coalition of business, political, civic and educational leaders — representing 17 East Valley communities — believes that cities are one of the key factors to our economic well-being and quality of life. Municipalities and businesses working together play a vital role in attracting and facilitating economic development, creating premier communities and delivering vital services to residents.
We believe that continued negotiations are needed to identify the best solutions to hold cities and towns harmless in this otherwise smart, common sense plan for TPT simplification.
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