By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services via Arizona Daily Star
An initiative proposing to pay for education improvements by hiking taxes on only the most wealthy also appears to remove a small income tax break available to those with fewer financial resources who are just trying to keep their incomes even with inflation.
A 2015 law requires that income tax brackets be indexed. The idea is that taxpayers should not be forced into a higher tax bracket simply because their income has kept pace with the cost of living.
But Arizona’s top legislative attorney, Mike Braun, says the way the #InvestInEd initiative is written eliminates the requirement for the state Department of Revenue to make future inflation adjustments.
More immediately, Braun said it would roll the brackets back to what they were in 2014, meaning some people who until now had been getting the benefits of indexing will lose it.
