Committee approves bill to add a $300,000 home example to truth-in-taxation and bond pamphlets

The Senate Finance Committee on March 13 voted to advance House Bill 2289, which would require informational pamphlets for bond and truth-in-taxation notices to include the estimated tax impact for a single-family home valued at $300,000 in addition to existing $100,000 examples.

Sponsor Justin Olson said the change would give voters a clearer sense of likely tax consequences because statutory examples have not been updated in more than 25 years. "When you look at the informational pamphlet for these property tax measures, it will give you both the tax consequence ... as well as the tax impact on a $300,000 home, which is more in line with the median value of the median home in Arizona," Olson said.

Senator Epstein questioned why $300,000 was chosen and suggested $400,000 may be closer to current medians; Olson said the figure was negotiated from an initial $400,000 proposal and is intended to be an easy-to-use benchmark for voters.

Jennifer Stilo of the Arizona Tax Research Association spoke in support, noting it has been more than two decades since the statute's examples were updated. The committee adopted a motion to return the bill with a due-pass recommendation and passed it in committee.

Next steps: HB 2289 will advance from committee to the next stage in the legislative process.