Republican Delegates being asked to support Amendment C to require higher threshold for tax increasing ballot measures

Tomorrow at the Republican State Central Committee meeting, the leadership of the SDGOP will be sitting down to do the business of the party. And one of the things they will be doing is being asked to support a resolution in support of Amendment C to require a higher passage threshold for tax-increasing ballot measures.

According to a letter that went out this week to Central Committee members:

June 18, 2021

Dear South Dakota Republican Central Committee Members:

The ideal that people work hard to earn a stable income for themselves and their families is nothing new. In fact, this tenet is one of the core principles that the great state of South Dakota was built upon. Because of this long-standing philosophy, we believe that the government’s ability to take a person’s hard-earned income through the raising of taxes should be MORE difficult, as a protection to them.

Quite often, current ballot measures are asking for increased spending…but not offering a means to pay for it. This leads to difficult decisions as our state needs to be fiscally sound when budgeting for such necessities as education or roads and bridges.

Furthermore, allowing greater government spending and raising taxes is simply a harbinger of bad things to come for the people of South Dakota. This will eventually lead to greater economic peril for the families of our state, as well as less opportunity.

The precedent is already there: right now, any proposed tax increase requires at least 67% approval by both chambers of our state legislature to pass. Additionally, school bond issues also require a 60% approval vote to pass. Shouldn’t ballot measures be held to a similar standard?

I firmly believe that Amendment C is appropriate as a form of taxpayer protection in our state. Simply put, it will put into play our main point—that raising your taxes should be harder. If successfully passed, Amendment C would require that any state ballot measure or amendment that would increase a tax or that would spend more than $10 million annually in ongoing spending in its first five years would need to receive at least 60% voter approval at the election rather than a simple majority.

Isn’t this what South Dakota values are all about? Isn’t this a central principle of our Republican Party?

We respectfully urge you to stick to our Republican values of lower taxation and limited government spending, and to support Taxpayer Protection Constitutional Amendment C. Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,
Representative Jon Hansen
Speaker Pro Tempore of the South Dakota House of Representatives
Chairman, South Dakotans against Higher Taxes

Also attached was the resolution:

A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE TAXPAYER PROTECTION CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT C

WHEREAS, Raising your taxes should be harder; and

WHEREAS, With successful passage of Amendment C, if a state ballot measure or amendment imposes or increases a tax or it spends more than $50 million in the first five years, it will need to receive at least 60% approval by voters in the election instead of a simple majority.

WHEREAS, increased taxes and more government spending means less opportunity and more economic harm to people in our state. D.C. has tried higher taxes and more spending – it doesn’t work; and

WHEREAS, Far left East Coast elites often propose ballot measures in South Dakota that involve ideas that are out of touch with South Dakota values; and

WHEREAS, Often ballot measures ask for spending increases without a means to pay for it. This creates some hard choices when budgeting for education, health, and social services. and

WHEREAS, in the South Dakota legislature, any tax increase requires at least 67% approval in both chambers to pass, to protect taxpayers; and

WHEREAS, Even school bond issues require a 60% approval to pass; Let it be

RESOLVED, that the Republican Party of South Dakota strongly supports the passage of Amendment C, the Taxpayer Protection ballot measure.

Given the make-up of the Republican Majority party, the measure is likely to pass tomorrow and will gain the GOP’s official support as organizers move forward to the vote on the measure for the 2022 primary ballot.

Here’s one thing that struck me. Is the State Democrat party going to oppose this measure… because they want it to be easy to raise our taxes?

Because that would be one heck of a bill of goods to try to sell voters.