Hull Kills Contractors Bill

PHOENIX-True to her word, Gov. Jane Hull has vetoed a bill that could have saved general contractors around the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The bill, which passed easily in both houses, would have exempted some contractors having to pay an additional sales tax of 0.6% on contracts signed prior to June 1, which is when the tax increase goes into effect. If the contract didn’t allow the seller to pass the increase on to the buyer, they would have been exempt from paying the additional 0.6%. The exemption would have ended Dec. 31.

Business leaders and general contractors claim the sales tax increase is unfair to those companies, some of them quite small, who bid on and signed long-term contracts predicated on a sales tax of 5%. Now, those contractors are locked into the price and have to pay the additional sales tax out of their pockets.