Mixed reactions to purposed tax holidays in Ariz.

Scottsdale, Ariz. — Republican State Representative Justin Pierce has authored House Bill 2384 which could lead to state sales tax holidays on the July 4th and Labor Day long weekends.

Pierce said this will boost the economy and encourage Arizonan’s to buy things they typically would not buy.

Economist Jim Rounds with Elliott D. Pollack and Company said sales tax holidays are a gimmick and do very little to jump start the economy and the state loses tax dollars in the process.

“It will not result in the boost in the economy that is being noted.”

Sixteen states have tax holidays planned for this year including New Mexico and Texas. Rounds said this is a bandwagon that Arizona needs to stay away from.

“Let’s evaluate this intelligently. There’s a lot of dumb people influencing policy in these other states that we like to compare ourselves with.”

Rounds said the states economy has certainly improved but is still about two years away from being back to full speed and this is not the time to encourage people to go on spending sprees with the proposed tax holidays.

“I appreciate the fact that lawmakers are trying to push the economy forward but there’s only so much the state and lawmakers can do to change how the economy is functioning.”