Let's require a supermajority to pass tax hikes in the Texas Legislature

Bipartisan legislation pending in the state Senate would protect Texans from rising taxes by requiring a two-thirds majority vote — a supermajority vote — in each legislative chamber before taxes could be increased. That’s a noble effort, and it’s being tackled using the right approach.

The bill, SJR 12, sponsored by state Sens. Dan Patrick, R-Houston and John Whitmire, D-Houston, would add Texas to the list of 16 other states with similar protections.

Critics complain the restriction would make it harder to raise or create taxes needed for essential public services. But when budgets are tight, lawmakers should remember whose money they’re spending and follow the lead of their constituents who have also had to make difficult but necessary cuts.

Furthermore, the idea of introducing this resolution as a constitutional amendment is sound and shows that the sponsors are serious about limiting future tax increases. If a supermajority in both houses approves the measure, Texas voters must also approve it at the ballot box for it to become a constitutional amendment.

This approach would have the muscle to ensure taxpayers are defended by requiring a significant debate before taxes are increased. The alternative is a legislative statute, which spendthrift lawmakers can circumvent when feeling the squeeze, as lawmakers have in Washington state.

Washington state, which has a statute rather than a constitutional protection, has experienced a vicious cycle through the years in which voters have had to repeatedly reaffirm the tax limitation requirements. But each time the economy is in a pinch, lawmakers have simply “temporarily suspended” the statute under political pressure, opting instead to pick taxpayer pockets.

In 2010 the Washington Legislature, facing a $2.6 billion budget gap, suspended I-960, which voters passed in 2007. Lawmakers then raised nearly $800 million in new taxes on items like cigarettes, candy, bottled water and soda — regressive taxes that hurt the poor more than the rich. Lawmakers there even created a new tax on businesses for out-of-state transactions.

If Washington voters had been armed with a constitutional amendment — such as the one being considered in the Texas Senate — they could have been more protected from these kinds of reckless tax hikes.

A proposed constitutional amendment might take longer to approve, but it will show whether Texas lawmakers are truly dedicated to protecting the Lone Star State’s economy from the ploys that have plagued Washington.

Erin Humiston is director of policy communication with the Institute for Policy Innovation, an independent, nonprofit public policy organization in Dallas. It advocates for “lower taxes, fewer regulations and a smaller, less intrusive government.”