Income or Privilege Tax?

QUESTION:

Hi Marty,

Mini AOC sure is funny isn’t she?

Here is a tax story for you. I’m considering a summer sublet in Sedona AZ, and while I tried to sell all my CA property by the end of last year – well long story short I am still a landlord out here. So I was curious, what is it like to be a landlord in AZ these days in comparison? So I just did a search on it expecting well – nothing much. Shocker!

Guess what? AZ has a “privilege tax” – what is that privilege you say?
Well it is the privilege of doing business in Arizona! ta da!

Excerpt from Article Below:

Arizona transaction privilege tax is a tax on the privilege of doing business in Arizona. TPT applies when an owner of Arizona rental real estate is engaged in business under the residential rental classification by the Model City Tax Code.
If you rent Arizona residential real estate all payments made by the tenant or on behalf of the landlord are taxable.

Happy (Florida) Weekend,

A

ANSWER: Florida tends to be better for there are enough retired people here to keep the school taxes down and they present a stiff level of resistance to taxes. Believe it or not, I was shocked to see my property taxes go down. They are indexed to property values. However, there is a sales tax on rentals, not income taxes. This is a classic example. When you buy insurance it is typically named for the risk (fire, burglary, flood, etc.). However, when you buy death insurance, they called it “life insurance,” because no one is ready to buy death insurance. Here you have an income tax by just calling it a “privilege tax.” There are others who impose an occupation tax. That is a fixed tax depending upon your job to get around income taxes.