Maricopa County judge won’t hold hearing on Arizona tax cut petitions

(The Center Square) – A judge refused a request to hold a quick hearing on a bid to prevent the historic tax cuts passed in the 2021 legislative session from being on the 2022 ballot.

Kory Langhofer, attorney for the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC), requested that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper hear his argument against allowing Arizonans to vote on the state’s new flat-rate income tax before Sept. 28. According to the Arizona Constitution, new laws take effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session, which this year will be Sept. 28.

Langhofer argued that ruling ahead of the deadline made sense because if Cooper decides that the three tax-cut measures are not subject to public veto, his client would not need to determine the validity of the signatures.

However, Roopali Desai, attorney for Invest in Arizona, told Capitol Media Services that she thought Langhofer’s request was intended to lower the morale of volunteers gathering signatures for the petitions. She did not respond to further requests for comment from The Center Square.

Invest in Arizona must gather 118,823 valid petition signatures by September 28 to refer three education bills passed this legislative session to the 2022 ballot. Their referendums seek to challenge Senate Bills 1783, 1827, and 1828. The SB 1828 referendum would overturn the 2.5% flat tax. The SB 1827 measure would overturn the 4.5% income tax cap. Finally, the SB 1783 referendum would remove the new tax bracket created for small businesses.

AFEC filed a lawsuit on July 21 to stop the petitions. President Scot Mussi said that “all 3 bills directly provide for the support and maintenance of the state, were key aspects of the state’s budget, and therefore are not referrable.”

After the Aug. 9 ruling, Langhofer expects that the judge will hear the lawsuit in late October.

“The most important thing is that the court rules on the issue before ballots are printed, and yesterday’s hearing ensures that,” Langhofer told The Center Square. “We would have preferred to resolve the issue sooner rather than later, but all roads lead to Rome.”

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