El Salvador’s War Tax Illegal

The Supreme Court, in a major setback to President Jose Napoleon Duarte, struck down today a special tax to pay for the nation’s bloody civil war.

“We declare the form and content of the tax for the defense of national sovereignty unconstitutional,” the court said in its ruling, viewed by most analysts as a major victory for the right. The crux of the ruling was that the government could not impose a special tax to meet “normal costs” just because it planned its budget inadequately.