The Pinal Regional Transportation Authority has approved a plan that lets businesses and the state Department of Revenue recover the taxes paid under the overturned Proposition 417 funding measure.
The measure authorized an excise tax to fund transportation projects. The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit claiming the tax was invalid. After a three-year legal battle, Goldwater’s position was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Tax collections were not halted while the case was making its way through the system. As a result, approximately $87M in taxes were collected. Since the funds were never made available to the RTA, a plan to redistribute the monies was needed.
The recently approved plan gives businesses and other entities that paid the taxes the option to request refunds from the Department of Revenue and to donate the money to a Central Arizona Governments fund for Pinal County-based programs and capital improvement transportation projects. Since CAG is a non-profit entity, there would be no tax consequences associated with the donation, and the RTA would be able to assist DoR in its refunding efforts. (Source)