Articles

Washington Supreme Court spurns Seattle’s tax gamble Washington State is one of a handful of states that characterizes individual income as private property, subject to the same protections as all other property. Thus, on seven occasions over the past eighty years, Washington’s high court has declared targeted income taxes unlawful unde ...

In Biggs v. Betlatch, the Arizona Supreme Court will decide whether a Medicaid expansion tax is, in fact, a tax – or whether it is some other kind of non-tax revenue raising device, such as a fee or assessment. While a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, a tax is misidentified as … ...

Amicus brief filed for contractor long frozen out of contracts Settlement reached in mobile home park case Cap and trade appealed Prairie dog ruling petition to the 10th Circuit Reply filed in Kinderace petition to Supreme Court Affirmative action case goes back to district court Amicus brief filed for contractor long frozen out of contracts ̷ ...

Today, PLF filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit supporting a television manufacturer’s challenge to a Connecticut law that shifts the cost of a local recycling program onto consumers in other states. The law is plainly unconstitutional under the Dormant Commerce Clause, which forbids states from regulating or taxing activity beyond th ...

Victory in free speech case The City of San Juan Capistrano agreed this week to stop enforcing it’s ban on putting “for sale” signs in car windows in Cefali v. San Juan Capistrano. Because any other sort of sign is allowed, we argued that this sort of content-based restriction on speech violates the First Amendment. … ...

Last month, Pacific Legal Foundation filed a letter brief urging the California Supreme Court to review a decision denying taxpayers the right to vote on taxes imposed by initiative. Yesterday, the Court agreed to review the decision in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland. The question before the Court is as follows:  Can the proponen ...

People support school choice for many reasons. Most support it because it’s the last best hope for their children to get a decent education. Some hope that it is a means to mitigate the impacts of racial and income segregation. Still others support it as an alternative to the highly-politicized resolution of sensitive religious and … ...

Today we filed an amicus brief in a case challenging Arizona’s Medicaid expansion.  Like California (and many other states), Arizona’s constitution requires that all taxes be passed by a supermajority vote—in this case, 2/3 of the legislature.  The Medicaid expansion included a tax on hospitals in order to pay for the program, but ...

Several states have constitutional limits on tax-increases, and particularly super-majority requirements that force legislatures to get a 2/3 vote to raise taxes. California’s Proposition 13 is the most famous, but Arizona, Nevada, and other states have similar requirements. Sadly, state officials often try to find ways around these limits— ...