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What Is The Arizona Legislature Going To Do With An Extra $750 Million?

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Published: Monday, January 13, 2020 - 11:53am

A sales tax on online purchases is bringing in a considerable amount of revenue, and as the Arizona Legislature prepares to begin its new session, representatives are faced with deciding what to spend it on.

The state is projecting a $750 million budget surplus for this fiscal year.

Much of that money came from taxes collected on internet purchases, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed in its ruling in South Dakota vs. Wayfair.

Republican State Rep. Ben Toma from Peoria wants to give some of that money back to taxpayers.

“We should be looking at additional relief to the taxpayers because none of the Wayfair decision was intended as an additional free-fall or massive increase in income for the government, at least not on the state side.”

Toma says he’d consider reducing property taxes to make up for the increase — but opponents would rather see that money invested in education.

Politics