North Carolina and Florida have solid Republican legislative majorities who want voters to ensure tax rates remain low into the future. Florida voters will decide whether to require two-thirds of members in both legislative chambers to pass tax hikes. Liz Farmer, writing for Governing magazine, cites the Mercatus Center and Tax Foundation in questioning the premise of the supermajority requirement.
Here in North Carolina, the vehicle is an amendment to reduce the constitutional cap on income tax rates to 7% from its current 10%. Tax caps have a mixed record as well, with warnings about possible damage to the state’s AAA bond rating. Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell summarized the state of research on tax and expenditure limits in 2013. Tax cuts help limit spending “if lawmakers don’t subsequently raise taxes,” but the best way to keep taxes low is to keep spending growth slow.