Arizona currently shares by far the highest gas prices in the nation along with California and Hawaii, sans the ocean view. For many years, our family lifestyle has lent itself to being relatively impervious to a direct impact from gasoline price spikes. Unfortunately our family’s demand for gas is drastically increasing due to job and school changes. Being that a Gelandewagen’s smiles per gallon off road for an adventure are inversely related to its miles per gallon on the road for daily commuting, I hope that Arizona’s gas prices fall at least to the national average sooner rather than later.
Alas, rather than cursing the darkness, I shall light a candle. Here is my candle. For 2023, Arizonans enjoy the new, reduced, flat income tax rate of 2.5%. That’s a reduction from last year’s range of 2.55 – 2.98%, which was a reduction from 2021’s range of 2.59 – 4.5%. So now, when I am making evermore frequent stops at gas stations to fill up our vehicles with premium gas, I’ll find solace in the fact that I’ll be transmitting a smaller percentage of our income next April than the previous year for state income tax purposes. Furthermore, I can gloat that 2.5% is a very low tax rate, especially when compared to the other two high-gas price states: California and Hawaii. Then again, it takes a long drive from Arizona to get an ocean view.
With Love,
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present