Prop. 208 Ruling is a Positive Step for Arizona Taxpayers

August 19, 2021

The Arizona Supreme Court this morning issued its decision in the Goldwater Institute’s challenge to Proposition 208—and it’s a great decision. The ruling sets the ill-conceived initiative up for an ultimately fatal blow.

Representing a group of taxpayers, business owners, and legislators, the Goldwater Institute challenged the legality of the job-killing Prop. 208 tax before the Arizona Supreme Court, arguing that the initiative violates the state constitution’s limits on spending and taxation. Today, the Court agreed that Prop. 208’s attempt to brush aside those constitutional limitations are void and unenforceable.

The Court remanded the case to the trial court, which will determine whether the tax revenues raised by the initiative would exceed the constitutional spending cap approved by voters.

“Today represents a major victory for the hardworking taxpayers of Arizona,” said Timothy Sandefur, Goldwater’s Vice President for Litigation. The justices made clear that the state constitution’s limits on spending—which were added to the Constitution by the voters themselves—cannot be simply ignored, as Prop. 208’s funders attempted.”

“The Court’s decision today is a great one for Arizonans,” said Goldwater Institute President and CEO Victor Riches. “Today’s ruling and the case’s return to the trial court sets us up to hammer the final nail into the coffin of Prop. 208.”