SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that COVID-19 does not qualify as a "disruptive event" to justify giving some major businesses a tax break.
In a ruling, the state's top court came down against a coalition of businesses and property owners that sought relief from property taxes citing the massive disruption of a global pandemic. The coalition challenging the taxes was led by the Larry H. Miller Company and included the Grand America and Little America hotels; Kohl's Department Stores; Thanksgiving Point; and numerous mall operators.
In arguments last year before the Utah Supreme Court,they argued that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a loss of business and qualified as disruptive under the state's "access interruption statute." The problem is, the statute doesn't explicitly list a pandemic as a disruptive event to qualify for tax relief. The Utah Attorney General's Office and the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, representing the state tax commission and county boards of equalization, argued that then-Governor Gary Herbert never really shut down businesses in the pandemic so they weren't entitled to any breaks.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices agreed.
“The pandemic is not, for instance, road construction, vandalism, or an adverse weather event…," Justice Jill Pohlman wrote in the ruling. "Thus, this case ultimately boils down to whether and how the list of qualifying circumstances can be expanded."
That list is up to the Utah Tax Commission, the Court declared.
"Given that the Commission has not made a rule adding the pandemic as a circumstance beyond the control of a property owner that is similar to those events identified in the statute, we conclude the pandemic is not an event that currently brings the Access Interruption Statute into play," Justice Pohlman wrote.
The Larry H. Miller Company declined to comment on the Court's ruling. The impact of the decision by the justices means millions of dollars for counties and the state. An adverse ruling for the state could have impacted thousands of businesses across the state who faced disruption to their regular way of doing things by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the ruling here:
