Manzara v. State

MARY R. RUSSELL, Judge.

Two taxpayers filed a petition for declaratory judgment challenging the constitutional validity of section 99.1205,1 the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act (Act). They claimed that the tax credits provided by the Act constituted an unconstitutional grant or lending of public money to private persons, associations, or corporations. The trial court declined to enter declaratory judgment because the taxpayers did not have standing to challenge the statute.

The taxpayers appealed to this Court, arguing that they had standing because the tax credits were direct…