James G Busby Jr

Senior Member

The Cavanagh Law Firm PA

is a Senior Member of The Cavanagh Law Firm, a Phoenix-based law firm where his practice involves all areas of state and local tax including sales, use, gross receipts, privilege, excise, and severance taxes as well as income, real and personal property taxes. Before entering private practice, Mr. Busby served as Chief Auditor and Principal Tax Analyst for the Transaction Privilege (Sales) and Use Tax Division of the Arizona Department of Revenue. During his time at the Department, he argued and settled cases for the Department, advised the Director on tax policy issues as a member of the Uniformity Committee, and acted as liaison to the Attorney General's office. As Chief Auditor, he employed a staff of 125 professionals to administer Arizona's sales, use and severance tax audit programs including the Cities Program, which conducts audits for 75 Arizona municipalities. In his law practice, and before that while working for two of the world’s largest accounting firms (Arthur Andersen and Deloitte), Mr. Busby has successfully advised and represented numerous clients of all sizes and from numerous industries in a variety of tax matters. Active in the business, professional and nonprofit communities, he is a past Chair and the current Legislative Liaison for the State Bar of Arizona’s Tax Section, a board member at the Arizona Tax Research Association, on the Advisory Board for the Phoenix Tax Workshop, and a member of the Business Advisory Council for the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. Mr. Busby lectures extensively on state and local tax topics, co-authored the chapter regarding the Judicial Review of Taxation in the Arizona Appellate Handbook published by the State Bar of Arizona, and authors a monthly column on state and local tax topics entitled A Dash of SALT for the AZ CPA Magazine. He earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from Arizona State University and his B.A. from Brigham Young University. Mr. Busby is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the State Bar of Arizona and the Utah State Bar. Direct dial: (602) 322-4146. E-mail address: JBusby@CavanaghLaw.com
(01/2015)