PHOENIX, ARIZ. (December 14, 2021) — The Arizona Chapter of NAIOP, the commercial real estate development association, just released its 2022 legislative agenda.
NAIOP’s policy priorities focus on protecting the economy from damaging tax increases, improving certainty for developers engaged in complex projects that aid in business attraction, and returning control of the ballot initiative process to Arizona residents.
“On the heels of a very successful legislative session last year, we plan to continue the positive momentum in creating a policy environment that is ripe for new investment,” said NAIOP Arizona President & CEO Suzanne Kinney. “With the monumental changes of the past two years, 2022 presents a unique opportunity for our market to break away from the pack. We will aggressively pursue legislation that will help accelerate our movement towards Tier 1 status for business attraction and job creation.”
Last year, the legislature made significant progress in blunting the impact of income tax increases imposed on small businesses and other taxpayers through Proposition 208. By having the state backfill the income surcharge and creating a flat income tax rate for all taxpayers, businesses are better positioned to create jobs and recover from the impact of the COVID pandemic. NAIOP will continue to oppose legal efforts and new ballot initiatives that would prevent these protections from staying in place and reduce Arizona’s economic competitiveness.
Recent elections have made it clear that Arizona’s ballot initiative system no longer serves the intent of our state’s founders to be a mechanism for Arizonans to take matters of concern for a direct vote of the people. Instead, well-financed outsiders have abused the system to “try out” novel, high-risk policy ideas. After many years of being on the defense, it is time to bring back control to Arizona’s voters.
Reducing the commercial property tax assessment ratio remains one of NAIOP’s top policy priorities. We achieved major progress last year with a 2% reduction and will continue to work towards parity with other types of property owners.
In light of recent lawsuits over economic development incentives, NAIOP will work to refine the system so that complicated development projects that bring value to the community can avoid surprise lawsuits after many months of sunk costs and investment.
Finally, on the federal front, NAIOP will work with Arizona’s congressional delegation to prevent damaging tax policy proposals from going into effect, such as restrictions on 1031 like-kind exchanges, the taxation of carried interest as ordinary income rather than capital gains, elimination of the stepped-up basis for inherited assets, and removal of tax deductions for qualified pass-through entities.
Download NAIOP Arizona’s full 2022 Legislative agenda at this link.
About NAIOP
NAIOP, a 19,000+ member organization in North America provides unparalleled industry networking and education, and advocates for effective legislation on behalf of its members. It is the leading association for developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial, retail and mixed-use real estate.