Supreme Court invalidates Hillsborough County transportation surtax
February 25, 2021 - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Hillsborough County’s one-cent transportation surtax, approved by voters in 2018, is unconstitutional. The vote was 4-1, with Justice Jorge Labarga dissenting. The tax initiative was championed by an advocacy group called All For Transportation and was controversial from the start because it called for the creation of an independent body of unelected citizens to decide how funds would be used. That drew the ire of Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White, who waged the legal battle that tied up the charter amendment in court and froze approximately $472 million that had been collected since the surtax was implemented.