Arizona Court of Appeals Finds Prop 417 “Valid”

On Thursday, January 16, the Arizona Court of Appeals released its opinion concerning Proposition 417. The unanimous decision reversed the ruling of Arizona’s tax court, stating that it “find[s] the Prop 417 to be valid.” The excise tax was approved by Pinal County voters in November 2017, to fund the county-wide Regional Transportation Plan, but was immediately contested by the Goldwater Institute.

“I am very pleased with the outcome,” stated County Manager Louis Andersen in a press release issued by Pinal County. “The county is ready to start building these critical infrastructure/road projects and have been for some time now. This is a great way to start the new year.”

According to Jordan Rose of the Rose Law Group, The court’s conclusion resulted from its analysis of four separate issues.

First, the court of appeals found the authorizing resolution (which only mentioned retail sales) did not affect the tax’s legality. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument, because the authorizing resolution neither enacted a tax nor asked voters to enact a tax, while the publicity pamphlet educated voters about “the particulars of the Prop 417 tax.” Therefore, the court found the authorizing resolution irrelevant and turned to examining whether the actual proposition complied with Arizona tax law.

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