Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Tuesday his office (AGO) has received widespread support in his lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional Tax Mandate in the American Rescue Plan Act (ACT).
"I appreciate the widespread support from leaders across the country and here in Arizona who are appalled by the federal government’s lack of respect for state sovereignty,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “The separation of powers must be preserved.”
Attorney General Brnovich filed a lawsuit in March 2021 against the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) and federal officials to protect Arizona taxpayers from provisions of the Tax Mandate that threaten to withhold federal COVID-19 relief funding from states if they lower taxes in any fashion. The AGO argues the Tax Mandate is unconstitutionally ambiguous and that the Treasury has failed to provide Arizona with the necessary assurances that it can continue to craft their own tax policies without fear of federal encroachment.
The AGO recently filed an appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The following amicus briefs were filed in support of Arizona:
- 22-State Coalition led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia)
- Goldwater Institute
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business:
“Never in the history of the Republic has the federal government conditioned the receipt of federal funds on a State’s surrender of its power to control its own tax policies. It is beyond question that Congress cannot dictate state tax policy directly, and such an intrusion into core matters of state sovereignty is ultra vires, even as a condition on federal funds.”