By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Key Points:
- Pinal County residents won’t receive $300 check for illegally collected taxes
- Plan to issue rebates stalled in the Senate before lawmakers adjourned
- Lawmakers may revisit the issue next year to decide on rebates or projects
A plan to issue $300 rebates on illegally collected sales taxes in Pinal County never received a final vote in the Senate before lawmakers adjourned for the session earlier this month — but the issue isn’t over.
Unable to agree on what to do with the $45 million to $50 million available, lawmakers tucked a provision into the new state budget to keep the money parked for now. Next year’s Legislature will have to decide whether to pay out rebates or steer the dollars into specific Pinal County road projects.
Without that budget provision, the money could have been swept into the state’s general fund — leaving Pinal residents with nothing.
This all goes back to 2017, when Pinal County voters approved Propositions 416 and 417. The first was a regional transportation plan; the second was a sales tax to pay for it.
