Arizona’s combined state, local sales taxes on high side
Teen crashes lead to business using simulators to teach drivers how to react to dangerous situations
Arizona shares something in common with several Southern states, with some of the highest combined state and local sales taxes in the nation.
Arizona ranks 11th nationally with a combined state, county and city sales tax rate averaging 8.17 percent, according to a study released by the Tax Foundation. The study weights county and city sales taxes by the size of local populations, meaning tax rates in the Valley would count more heavily than those in rural parts of the state.
Southern states, led by Tennessee, had the highest combined sales tax rates. Four states — Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon — don’t levy sales or local sales taxes. Alaska doesn’t have a state sales taxes, but local taxes average 1.76 percent.
Some 45 states collect statewide sales taxes and 38 collect local taxes, the Tax Foundation said.
Arizona’s state rate of 5.6 percent is relatively low, but average local rates of 2.57 percent here are on the high side. Arizona’s combined rate of 8.17 percent is lower than that of California (8.44 percent) but higher than in neighboring Nevada (7.94 percent), New Mexico (7.35 percent) or Utah (6.68 percent).
The study doesn’t account for differences in tax bases or what types of products and services are taxable or exempt. For example, most states exempt groceries, but some tax them at a limited rate and others tax then fully, according to the Tax Foundation.
What business owner Maria Wojtczak admits could be considered an impulsive move has prevented countless road tragedies by teaching young drivers to be just the opposite.
A few years after moving to the Valley from Michigan, Wojtczak and her husband Richard, both management consultants at the time, noticed a rash of teen vehicle crashes involving students in the Scottsdale Unified School District in 2002. Perplexed and troubled by this trend – and with a daughter in middle school – Richard researched possible reasons and solutions.
“It was Rich’s brainchild. He started looking into what was done in the way of driving training. He talked to people, we did our own form of focus groups. We discovered that people thought it was a great idea to teach kids how to manage situations,” Maria said.
Months later, the couple was looking for a space to house what would become DrivingMBA , their comprehensive driving school that offers class-
Driving MBA
Where: 9089 E. Bahia Drive, No. 102, Scottsdale, 1760 W. Chandler Blvd., Suite 3, Chandler Employees: 25 Interesting stat: One in five 16-year-old drivers has an accident within their first year of driving, according to auto insurance company GEICO. Details: 480-948-1648, drivingmba.com room and on-road instruction integrated with high-level simulation training labs – a feature that distinguishes theirs from other driving education programs.
And what started as a personal quest quickly became a new and unexpected career. “We’re kind of impulsive,” said company COO Maria, as she laughed.
In 2003 , DrivingMBA welcomed its first students at its Scottsdale office. In 2007 , the Wojtczaks opened a second location in Chandler.
With their beginner and defensive driving simulation labs, the Wojtczaks initially saw their school as a supplement to traditional driver training for other