(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents the plaintiffs in this case)
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX — A Scottsdale business owner and a retired judge are challenging the legality of the just-approved tax hike on Arizona’s wealthy to provide more dollars for K-12 education.
There is no constitutional authority for voters to levy a tax and then direct how the cash must be spent, said Attorney Logan Elia. That, he told Capitol Media Services, is strictly the purview of the legislature and the elected representatives.
Elia acknowledged that Arizona voters have enacted numerous prior levies at the ballot box. That includes the taxes on tobacco products with the proceeds earmarked to fund health care and a 0.6-cent sales tax hike in which voters directed that the dollars be put into classroom spending.
