In a session suddenly flush with proposed constitutional amendments, a House panel Monday added another to the list -- one that would require legislators to have a 60 percent majority in order to pass most tax increases.
The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, and approved by the Tax Committee on a voice vote, would apply to state income tax, sales tax and property tax increases as well as to any new state tax. If the amendment were adopted by voters in the 2012 general election, it would be only the fifth instance in which the state Constitution would require at least a 60 percent majority on a provision.
"I have heard very clear and loudly from people that we need to rein in the spending of state government," Drazkowski said. "This amendment, if the voters are interested in it, would do that." He said that the House once passed a bill to put the amendment on the ballot and that 16 states, from Oregon to Mississippi, already have laws requiring more than a simple majority on spending measures.
With Republicans in Minnesota pushing constitutional amendments on issues from gay marriage to a required photo ID for voting, DFLers complained Monday that the GOP is attempting to bypass likely vetoes by Gov. Mark Dayton by taking controversial initiatives directly to voters. In a related move, with a 67-63 vote the Republican-majority House narrowly pushed aside a DFL attempt Monday to table any votes on constitutional amendment proposals until the Legislature erased the state's $5.1 billion projected deficit.
That vote came as another constitutional amendment was being proposed: to limit the level of budgeted spending to the amount collected in the prior biennium. The bill to put that measure on the 2012 ballot is sponsored by Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, the Senate Taxes Committee chair.
"We have a $5 billion shortfall we haven't yet solved," said Rep. Lyndon Carlson, DFL-Crystal. Because the earliest a constitutional amendment could go before voters is November 2012, said Carlson, "there's plenty of time for constitutional amendments next year."
Phil Krinkie, president of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, said the proposal is needed. "What this would do is shed a lot more light on the process," said the former Republican House Taxes Committee chair. "It's easy to vote for more funding for K-12 education. ... It's not as easy to come up with the funds to pay for that service."
But Rep. Ann Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington, another former House Taxes Committee chair, said the proposal might actually lead legislators -- both Republicans and DFLers -- to do more "revenue hiding" by using accounting shifts and other methods to raise revenue without officially raising taxes. She also said that going directly to voters with issues because they could not otherwise pass the Legislature was "kind of cowardly."
