By Jake Kincaid | PinalCentral
Pinal County will be able to collect Proposition 417 taxes for new transportation projects starting in April, despite ongoing litigation.
On Friday, Judge Christopher T. Whitten of Maricopa County Superior Court denied the plaintiff, Harold Vangilder, in litigation filed by the Goldwater Institute, an injunction that would prevent the collection of the tax.
The Arizona Department of Revenue argued that the injunction would cause harm because in two years if the tax is found to be lawful, every taxpayer in Pinal County would then owe money to the county.
The Goldwater Institute argued the county attempted to change the law after the election by approving a new resolution Thursday to ask the Department of Revenue to collect the tax on a variety of businesses, even though the department told the court in its briefs that the tax was for retail sales. The Goldwater Institute charges that the resolution puts the county at odds with state tax officials and causes confusion over what businesses can be taxed.
The plaintiffs argued that the injunction should be filed so that appropriate time could be given to consider all of the issues in the case for a summary judgment, but Whitten rejected that logic.
