Income tax opponents discuss constitutional limit on spending
NASHVILLE (AP) — A constitutional amendment limiting state government growth and requiring voter approval for tax increases would give Tennessee “fiscal guardrails,” a Colorado senator told supporters of a “Taxpayers Bill of Rights” on Tuesday.
John Andrews, Colorado Senate president, said his state implemented a similar measure a dozen years ago, preventing a financial crisis such as California faces with its monumental deficits. Such taxpayer protection proposals are gaining support in states across the nation, he said.
“Opponents would have you believe it’s a fiscal roadblock, that it gets in the way of where you want to go. Absolutely not,” Andrews said. “It doesn’t say ‘no more government growth.’ It simply provides this guardrail or guide to say that government won’t grow any faster than the overall economy, so that it does not take bread out of our mouths.”
Andrews spoke at a town hall meeting arranged by Sen. Jim Bryson and Rep. Glenn Casada, both Williamson County Republicans, to fuel support for their “Taxpayers Bill of Rights” constitutional amendment. Legislation to put the issue before voters is scheduled for Senate committee debate next week.
About 100 people filled a hotel ballroom across from Legislative Plaza to hear more about the resolution, which would:
— Cap the annual rate of growth in state spending to no more than the total growth in population and inflation as measured by the consumer price index.
— Refund any excess, above what is required for the state’s “Rainy Day” fund, to taxpayers either directly or through tax rate reductions.
— Require all tax increases and new taxes to be approved directly by the voters in a referendum.
The resolution follows years of heated debate over a state income tax, which ended in 2002 with approval instead of a $1 billion increase in existing taxes. In the two years before that vote, talk of an income tax prompted noisy protests at Capitol Hill attended by hundreds.
Rep. Tommy Head, a Clarksville Democrat who chairs the House Finance Committee and sponsored the income tax proposal, said it would have capped the amount of tax revenue collected by the state to 6 percent of the state’s economy, as measured by gross personal income.
“Something like that wouldn’t be bad. I could support that. But to cap it according to population and inflation growth, that would tie government’s hands,” he told The Associated Press when asked about the Republican resolution.
The bill of rights proposal is strongly supported by groups such as “Tennessee Tax Revolt,” whose leader, Ben Cunningham, passed out guidelines at the meeting on how to lobby members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The resolution also is supported by Tennessee small business owners who belong to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said state director Rob Ikard. “Our members are tired of being treated like a spigot, a spigot to turn on to get money out of,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who as a Republican state senator was a prominent income tax opponent, also supports the proposal. “It is time we make certain we limit how much money the government has to spend. It is best left in the taxpayers’ pocket,” she said.
Andrews said that since 1992, Colorado has returned some $17,000 to each family of four in Colorado because of the requirements of its “Taxpayers Bill of Rights.”
Bryson said he recognizes he has “a tough row to hoe.” To get on the ballot for the 2005 governor’s election, the resolution would have to be approved by a majority of both the Senate and House this year and by a two-thirds majority in the next General Assembly.
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On the Net:
Read Senate Joint Resolution 88: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us