By Madeline Ackley Salazar | YourValley
The city of Goodyear unveiled its legislative priorities in the coming year which have to do with protecting local revenue streams, maintaining control over city planning and guaranteeing its transportation and infrastructure priorities.
Goodyear’s government relations manager Ginna Carico, discussed the city’s main priorities for the Fifty-Sixth Legislative Session, which convened for the first time Jan. 9, 2023.
She explained at the Monday council meeting that staff carefully monitor the state legislature for bills that may have implications for the city. Carico estimates that an average of 300 such bills come before the legislature each session.
Goodyear anticipates a “fight” over proposed tax plan
Republican Warren Petersen has begun his first term as senate president and has already unveiled a plan to eliminate residential, rental and food taxes — a proposal Goodyear regards as an “overreach.”
Sen. Petersen writes that slashing these taxes would help struggling Arizonans amid the rising cost of living.
“Government makes plenty of money from the income tax charged to landlords,” Petersen writes in his proposal, asserting that tenants shouldn’t have to pay a tax on top.
He also called for a complete ban on food taxes, a policy some cities have already adopted on their own.
“Food is not a luxury. It is a necessity,” Petersen writes. “This tax is regressive and hurts the poorest of the poor.”
But the taxes Petersen would like to see eliminated aren’t ones collected by the state, but by city governments. Carico stated that the proposed measures “would have no impact to the state’s coffers, which we do believe to be an overreach that will impact communities across the state.”
