(Radio Iowa) – A Senate committee has advanced a proposed amendment to Iowa’s constitution to require at least 34 state senators and 67 representatives approve any future increases in the individual income tax or the state’s corporate tax. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says if voters approve the amendment, it would hamstring the legislature’s ability to respond when income tax collections fall.

“Pretty soon you’re going to have to face some hard questions,” Quirmbach said. “And the questions if this amendment were to pass would be: ‘How high to raise the sales tax?'” Republicans on the Senate Ways and Means Committee advanced the proposal today (Thursday) without comment. Senator Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs has touted the concept in the past.

“The premise is simple here: it should be a majority to lower the taxes,” Dawson said in 2022, “but there should be some type of higher threshold to raise them here in the state of Iowa.” A resolution about requiring a two-thirds vote in the legislature to raise income taxes would have to be approved by the House and Senate this year or in 2026 before the proposed constitutional amendment could be presented to Iowa voters on the November, 2026 ballot.