Editorials and Opinion Pieces

BY: Grover Norquist, special to the Washington Times
DATE: January 15, 1999
SECTION: PART A; COMMENTARY; Pg. A16.
LENGTH: 674 words

In his State of the State Address, New York Gov. George Pataki boldly called on the legislature to adopt a constitutional amendment to require a two-thirds supermajority to raise taxes for the state. "The act of raising taxes is a destructive act, and should therefore be a difficult act," said Mr. Pataki.

I couldn't agree with him more. In D.C. and in state capitals across America, there is an inherent bias toward increased spending over reducing taxes, a supermajority requirement would properly make tax increses more difficult and begin to focus government policy on cutting wasteful spending rather than increasing taxes. Opponents of Mr. Pataki's plan to require a supermajority vote to approve all tax increases will argue it is contrary to majority rule. They will argue that all business should be conducted as 50 percent plus 1. However, there are 10 instances in the U.S. Constitution which require a two-thirds vote and each state has similar constitutional provisions. In addition, taxes in many cases last just as long as constitutional amendments. New Yorkers, and the rest of the country are still paying a 3 percent telephone tax that was first instituted to pay for the Spanish-American War. Last time we checked that war has been over for a while. Taxpayer advocates learned long ago that entrenched taxes are very difficult to remove from the code.

Supermajority protection for taxpayers has been sweeping the nation since 1978, when California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 13. That was the opening shot of the anti-tax movement that swept Ronald Reagan into the presidency two years later. Today there are 14 states with supermajority requirements for tax increases, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington.

The drive for supermajority requirements to protect taxpayers continues strongly. Mr. Pataki joins Gov. John Engler of Michigan, Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Gov. Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey and Gov. Edward Schafer of North Dakota, who all have begun campaigns in their respective states to enact a constitutional requirement for a supermajority vote to raise taxes in their state. Over the next two years with Washington in gridlock, Republican governors are going to be the driving force of the GOP. Almost all Republican governors, both conservative and moderate share the goal of protecting taxpayers from easy tax increases.

Since 1995, Congress votes each and every April 15 on the Tax Limitation Amendment sponsored by Reps. Joe Barton, Texas Republican, John Shaddeg, Arizona Republican, and Ralph Hall, Texas Democrat, and by Sens. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican. This annual vote for the two-thirds supermajority requirement to raise taxes has been held every year since the Republicans took the Congress. Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott promise the vote will take place each year until the amendment passes.

Voters agree with Mr. Pataki's plan. According to the polling company, 68 percent of voters would be more likely to support a complete overhaul of the tax system if it included a two-thirds supermajority. Seventy-five percent said they would be more likely to vote for their current member of Congress if they voted for a two-thirds supermajority. And 78 percent would feel more confident of their state taxes if they learned their state has a two-thirds supermajority requirement such as that in California.

Taxpayers in New York and around the country appreciate the leadership of Mr. Pataki on this issue. Not only will his efforts protect taxpayers in the state of New York, it will help the efforts of pro-taxpayer members of Congress extend this protection to federal taxes. With the hard work of fiscally conservative governors like Mr. Pataki, someday all taxpayers will have this protection against tax increases.