A Maricopa County judge has ruled that voters can determine the fate of a Republican-sponsored tax cut bill that cut the tax rate for the wealthiest Arizonans by nearly half. The bill was passed earlier this year by the GOP-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Governor Doug Ducey.
The Associated Press reports that opponents to Senate Bill 1828 wants to have a voter referendum during the November 2022. The judge ruled that the tax cuts–which would change the state tax rate from a progressive 2.59% to 4.5% rate to a flat 2.5% rate–cannot go into effect until voters cast ballots in the referendum.
Arizona’s constitution allows citizens to vote to approve or repeal legislation passed by the legislature and signed by the governor via referenda if the proposal gets signatures from at least 5% of the number of people who voted in the last election. The petitioners filed the referendum with the state with 220,000 signatures, almost double the 118,000 needed to qualify.
Proponents of the tax cut claim that because the tax cut bill was actually a budget expenditure–claiming that the tax rate reduction was actually the state giving money back to taxpayers–the legislation is exempt from the referendum provision in the state’s constitution.