Opinion ID: 1397358
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Equal Protection and Uniform Operation of the Laws

Text: Equal protection provisions of the federal and state constitutions accord particularly wide latitude to legislative classifications in tax statutes. Apache County v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, 106 Ariz. 356, 476 P.2d 657 (1970). No scheme of taxation, whether property, income or otherwise, has yet been devised which is free of all discriminatory impact. San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 41, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 1301, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1973). In Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway v. Browning, 310 U.S. 362, 368, 60 S.Ct. 968, 971, 84 L.Ed. 1254 (1940), the Supreme Court stated: This Court has previously had occasion to advert to the narrow and sometimes cramping provision of these state uniformity clauses, and has left no doubt that their inflexible restrictions upon the taxing powers of the state were not to be insinuated into that meritorious conception of equality which alone the Equal Protection Clause was designed to assure. In sum, § 59-5-4.5 does not violate the equal protection provisions of the state and federal constitutions.