SENATOR PUSHES VEHICLE TAX BREAK FOR LOW-INCOME SENIORS
By DANIEL RAVEN
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Tuesday, Jan. 15) _ Senior citizens use Arizona’s roads less than other groups and deserve a break on the state’s vehicle license tax if they have low incomes, a state senator said Tuesday.
“When you’re a senior citizen living on a fixed income, any break you can get is a welcome break and a welcome relief,” said Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, sponsor of a bill to provide the tax break.
SB1020 would allow those 65 and older who qualify for a property tax exemption based on income to avoid paying the vehicle license tax on one vehicle so long as it is not a motor home.
The proposed exemption would cost local jurisdictions an estimated $4 million and eliminate an estimated $1 million from the State Highway Fund.
The bill cleared its first hurdle when the Senate Transportation Committee endorsed the bill Tuesday, but it passed only on a 3-2 vote after Sens. Pamela Gorman, R-Anthem, and Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, the committee’s chairman, objected to its price tag.
“We already can’t afford to pay for the building and maintenance of our existing road system,” Gorman said.
Gorman added that the bill would merely increase the financial burden on those who aren’t senior citizens.
“When you take away one person who participates in funding a service, it doesn’t reduce the cost of operating that service,” Gorman said.
Gorman also raised concerns about the way the bill defines low income.
“You can be extremely wealthy with investments and holdings and have no income and still qualify to pay no vehicle license tax on your Lexus,” she said.
Tibshraeny, who proposed a similar version of the bill two years ago, said that the costs of the bill are being distorted.
“It’s a minimal-impact bill,” he said.
“It’s $4 million to the local jurisdiction. A lot of that money actually goes into the general fund it doesn’t even go into the roads,” he said.
Arizona’s vehicle license tax is calculated at $2.80 per $100 of a new vehicle’s depreciated value and $2.89 per $100 of a used vehicle’s worth.