PHOENIX -- Two Republicans joined all Democrats on a House panel Wednesday to defeat a measure designed to make the cities of Tucson and Flagstaff pay for their higher minimum wages -- but not because the GOP lawmakers like the voter-approved boosts.
Instead, Republican Rep. David Livingston said a better approach is for the cities to repeal their minimum wage laws and even to help repeal the initiative that boosted the statewide minimum wage and allows individual cities to raise it above the state base.
That, he said, is what is driving inflation in those cities and across Arizona and the nation.
The measure from Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, would have given businesses in those cities a tax credit equal to the difference between their wages and the statewide minimum wage of $13.85 per hour. For Flagstaff, that’s a $2.95 per hour difference from its $16.80 rate. Tucson’s wages are set to rise to $14.25 by the end of the year.
Voters in both cities approved the increases.
Under Rogers' plan, the state would recoup the tax losses by withholding income tax payments that are funneled to those cities -- estimated by the Legislature’s budget analysts at $17 million a year for Flagstaff and $120 million for Tucson. But the state’s taxpayers...
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