Retirement tax questions

Most states do not tax early withdrawals, because they are taxed on the federal level (which passes in most cases down to the state return).

However, Arizona may have different treatment for amounts withdrawn early from the Arizona state retirement system and other Arizona governmental retirement plans. See https://www.azdor.gov/Portals/0/Rulings/itr93-7.pdf (note that this letter is advisory only but points out the different ways that Arizona might tax such income).

"can it be taken out up front" - I am not sure what this means, but every withdrawal that is early will trigger a separate early distribution penalty.