WFSP (Arizona): Arizona’s Unfair Tax System Targets the Poor/Middle Class

Arizona’s local and state tax system targets the middle class, and the poorest people in the state pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the richest people do, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

In fact, the Tax Inequality Index, released in January 2015, ranks Arizona’s local and state tax system as the eighth “most regressive” in the country when comparing the difference in percentages paid by the poor and rich. 

ITEP said overall, the top 1 percent (those who earn more than $402,000 per year) pays about 4 and a half percent of their income in local and state taxes. The middle 20 percent pays 9.2 percent and the bottom 20 percent (those who make less than $22,000 per year) pays 12.5 percent.

---