/ Modified jun 18, 2024 8:16 p.m.

Tucson special election for proposed sales tax canceled

The city's mayor and council unanimously moved to cancel the election during a Tuesday meeting.

City Hall Tucson City Hall
Nick O'Gara/AZPM

Tucson’s mayor and council voted to cancel a special election that was set for August.

In February, the city council moved to call for a special election that would allow voters to establish a set transaction privilege tax in the city’s charter that would be used to fund community investments.

But the mayor and council did not yet determine the specific provisions of that tax proposal by the statutory deadlines.

The now-canceled special election drew scrutiny earlier this year after some lawmakers questioned whether Tucson could have such an election. State law says that cities can only hold elections for new taxes in November of even-numbered years. But in March, Attorney General Kris Mayes said that the election could proceed.

"The timing of Tucson’s special election to amend its Charter is a matter of purely municipal concern, even though the proposed amendment concerns a transaction privilege tax,” she wrote.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona