Gov. Doug Ducey Vetoes Change To Arizona Tax Code

By Al Macias
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Published: Friday, February 1, 2019 - 5:43pm
Updated: Monday, February 4, 2019 - 8:58am

Gov. Doug Ducey has vetoed changes to the Arizona tax code that the Legislature just approved Thursday. In vetoing the plan, Ducey said the legislation is an “irresponsible measure that hastily changes Arizona's tax laws without any reliable data to back it up.''

The governor criticized lawmakers from his own Republican Party for not adopting his plan to simply conform Arizona's tax laws to the changes made in the Internal Revenue Code, which were part of the federal Tax Cut and Jobs Act in 2017.

Those adjustments, incorporated by themselves into the Arizona tax code, would increase what residents owe by about $150 million. GOP lawmakers sought to balance that by cutting income tax rates.

Without those cuts some lawmakers say the state would receive an improper "windfall."

The governor told Capitol Media Services he will veto any budget that doesn’t simply conform to the federal tax code.

House Ways and Means Committee chairman Ben Toma, said if the governor thinks GOP lawmakers will  adopt a plan to hike taxes, he's sadly mistaken. 

Politics