Lawmakers push 60% vote threshold on tax ballot measures

[TexasTowelie]

PIERRE (AP) – South Dakota Republicans on Thursday voted to put a constitutional amendment on the next primary election ballot that would make it more difficult to pass ballot initiatives to raise taxes or spend public funds.

The effort to move the proposed amendment from the general election to the primary – when fewer people traditionally vote – drew criticism from Democrats and some Republicans that it was an unfair effort to head off ballot campaigns already in the works.

Nonetheless, a majority of GOP lawmakers passed the resolution to ask primary voters in June 2022 to decide whether ballot initiatives should have a 60% vote requirement to raise taxes or spend more than $10 million within five years of enactment.

The resolution easily cleared the House after the Senate approved it by a single vote on Wednesday.

Read more: https://brookingsregister.com/article/lawmakers-push-60-vote-threshold-on-tax-ballot-measures

[Pobeka]

1. But when a tax expires there won't be a 60% vote required to allow expiration.

WA was trying to pass a citizens initiative measure many years ago that would require 66% approval to raise a tax. I asked the guy collecting signatures for it if he thought it seemed reasonable that 1 person gets to control what 2 other people to in a democracy, and he said of course not.