Roxy Huber

Summary

The court held that the coal severance tax statute establishes a preexisting tax rate consisting of a base amount plus a mandatory inflation adjustment, so the Department's implementation of that formula was not a post-amendment tax-rate increase requiring voter approval. Because the Department had no discretion to alter or refuse to enforce the statutory formula, the court reversed the court of appeals and reinstated the trial court's judgment. Justice Coats, joined by Justice Eid, dissented, concluding that increasing the tax from $0.54 to $0.76 per ton was a tax-rate increase requiring voter approval.