Justices sound skeptical about tax-incentives case

Posted on Wed, Mar. 01, 2006
Justices sound skeptical about tax-incentives case
By Stephen Henderson
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court seemed unlikely Wednesday to second-guess a plan by Ohio legislators to offer lucrative tax incentives to companies that expand their investments in the state.

In arguments before the justices, Ohio and Michigan taxpayers who object to the plan had a hard time on several fronts. First, the justices seemed skeptical that the taxpayers even had standing to challenge the plan in federal courts. Beyond that, the justices who spoke up during the hearing seemed to think that the dispute over such tax-incentive plans was political in nature, and best left to elected officials to settle.

"I'll grant that these are politically controversial," Justice Antonin Scalia said. "But isn't that the place to fight it out? Why should the courts decide?"

Peter Enrich, the attorney for the taxpayers, said the issue raised important constitutional issues.
"It's a discriminatory practice that implicates competition between the states," Enrich said. "It would be a tariff by any other name."
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http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13992309.htm