By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Daily Star
State senators on Tuesday rejected the one tax break sought by Gov. Doug Ducey in his State of the State speech.
Four Republicans lined up with the 13 Senate Democrats to quash the idea of exempting military pensions from the state’s income tax.
None of the Republicans explained their decision during the vote. But Sen. J.D. Mesnard of Chandler is pushing an alternate set of tax breaks, ones that would give broader relief to individuals and businesses.
“I generally oppose carve outs,” he told Capitol Media Services after the vote.
Sen. David Farnsworth of Mesa expressed similar sentiments.
“When we make policies they need to be broad and affect everybody,” he said. “Any time we carve out any segment it shifts the load to everyone else.”
Ducey press aide Patrick Ptak said his boss is not deterred by the vote — or the fact that four members of his own party refused to go along.
