The Barry Goldwater Institute ? the well-named counterpart to the John Locke Foundation for the state of Arizona ? has issued a critical response to the U.S. Supreme Court?s decision earlier this week to allow state taxpayers to sue their state government in federal court to challenge state tax codes on constitutional grounds.
I understand where they are coming from, in that school-choice opponents are behind the move to unravel one of the nation?s most promising programs expanding educational opportunity and reducing the monopoly power of government-run schools. But I disagree about the legal issue involved: surely there are cases in which state tax policy runs afoul of the federal constitution, and in such cases it doesn?t seem just to limit a taxpayer?s recourse to the state courts only.
I don?t think the Arizona school-choice credit is truly at risk here. The Court has already spoken on the First Amendment implications of programs that assist parents who choose non-governmental schools for their children. There are no such implications, as long as the choice remains with the parent, just as families can use state child-care or higher-education subsidies to attend religiously affiliated institutions and taxpayers can make donations to religious charities and receive state tax credits in many jurisdictions, including North Carolina.
