PHOENIX – Andy Biggs and his extremist allies are desperately spreading misleading claims about Katie Hobbs to distract from his own cost-hiking record. The reality is Biggs supports a 23 percent sales tax on everything Arizonans buy, has championed tariffs that are driving up costs, and continues to back Washington policies that are making everything from groceries to gas more expensive. Meanwhile, Hobbs has cut taxes every year she’s been governor, including signing a bipartisan, balanced budget this year with $1.4 billion in tax cuts.
CLAIM #1: “Katie Hobbs is deceiving voters about Andy Biggs and his tax plan to distract from her terrible record on affordability.”
THE TRUTH: Every year she’s been governor, Hobbs has worked with both parties to cut taxes – for middle-class families, veterans, small businesses, and seniors. This year, Hobbs negotiated and signed a bipartisan, balanced budget that included $1.4 billion in tax cuts for Arizona families, including no tax on tips and overtime, a higher standard deduction for 88 percent of Arizonans, and a new $6,000 deduction for seniors.
Meanwhile, Andy Biggs supports a 23 percent sales tax on everything Arizonans buy. Biggs has repeatedly backed legislation that would impose a sales tax on Arizonans, including at the state and federal level. Biggs has called this new, higher sales tax scheme the tax issue he is “most passionate about” and said a 23 percent rate would be “nice.”
An independent analysis of Biggs’ higher sales tax found it would push Arizona’s combined sales tax rate to the highest in the nation.
CLAIM #2: “When Arizona tried to end the tax on tips, Katie Hobbs vetoed it three times. She supported a 66 percent increase to the Prop 301 sales tax, and she tried to double the state gas tax.”
THE TRUTH: Katie Hobbs negotiated and signed the elimination of Arizona income taxes on tips into law. Biggs’ claim deliberately leaves out why Hobbs vetoed extremist budgets, which included more than $600 million in tax breaks for billionaires, data centers, and special interests while threatening healthcare for up to 200,000 Arizonans, cutting funding for child safety, taking resources away from border security and wildfire prevention, and jeopardizing summer food assistance for 640,000 Arizona children.
Hobbs ultimately worked across the aisle to pass a bipartisan, balanced budget that eliminated state income taxes on tips and overtime as part of $1.4 billion in tax reductions.
Hobbs also requested and secured three federal EPA emergency fuel waivers to allow cheaper gasoline blends in Arizona during supply disruptions and rising prices at the pump.
CLAIM #3: “Katie Hobbs wants to raise your taxes. Andy Biggs has never raised taxes, and he never will.”
THE TRUTH: As governor, Katie Hobbs has never raised taxes. Instead, she’s cut them every year she’s been governor. In addition to backing a 23 percent tax on everything, Biggs has also supported Washington’s tariffs, which JPMorgan described in 2025 as the largest U.S. tax hike since 1968. Biggs voted to protect the tariffs, pushed to expand them further, and called them a “brilliant economic strategy.” Despite those costs, Biggs has insisted tariffs are “not inflationary” and argued that Washington has “tamed inflation” and “brought everything back down.”
“While Gov. Hobbs has cut taxes every year she’s been governor for middle-class families, veterans, small businesses, and seniors, Andy Biggs needs to answer for his own tax-hiking record. He continues to back the war in Iran and tariffs that are driving up the cost of everything from groceries to gas to utilities,” said Michael Beyer, Katie Hobbs’ Communications Director. “And on top of that, he supports a scheme to tax everything by 23 percent, showing just how out of touch he is with Arizona families.”
