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PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona House has rejected a bill granting a big property tax break for a growing private Christian university in west Phoenix.
Senate Bill 1402 would have cut Grand Canyon University's property taxes by about $3 ½ million this year. Opponents said it would have shifted those assessments to other property owners in the west Phoenix area and granted a special tax break to a for-profit company.
Republican Sen. Steve Yarbrough's legislation applied to any regionally or nationally accredited private university in Arizona but Grand Canyon benefits most.
Thursday's 17-39 vote marks the second time an effort to reclassify the university's property into a lower tax rate failed. A 2014 effort was defeated because of concerns it benefited only one university and was unconstitutional.
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