Republican Arizona gubernatorial nominee Andy Biggs is accusing Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs of misleading voters with campaign advertisements claiming he would impose a 23% sales tax if elected.
ABC15 reported Biggs called the ads “a lie,” arguing they conflate a federal tax proposal he supports with his state campaign platform. “That’s not even part of our platform,” Biggs said. One Hobbs ad says Biggs wants a consumption tax on nearly everything and warns the levy would “cost you big time.”
The attack rests on Biggs’s support for the FairTax Act of 2025, which he joined as an original cosponsor. The bill would eliminate federal income, payroll, estate and gift taxes and replace them with a national retail sales tax. The Congressional Research Service says its initial 23% tax-inclusive rate equals a 30% tax-exclusive rate—the format normally used for sales taxes—and includes monthly rebates for qualifying households.
Hobbs’s campaign points to a 2006 Arizona bill Biggs helped introduce that sought to repeal state individual and corporate income taxes and broaden the transaction privilege tax. The measure left the replacement rate blank while stating the goal was revenue neutrality. Biggs said in 2012 that a consumption tax was his preferred way to overhaul Arizona’s system.
Biggs’s current gubernatorial proposal is different: he says he would gradually eliminate Arizona’s 2.5% income tax without raising another tax. He told ABC15 that spending cuts, reduced fraud, agency efficiencies and state-land revenue could cover the loss.
That promise would require replacing substantial revenue. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee projects individual income taxes will provide $5.94 billion, or 31.5%, of Arizona’s $18.86 billion General Fund revenue in fiscal 2027. ABC15’s report did not identify a detailed phaseout timetable or fiscal model.
