Vote YES on Amendment B: Higher Standards for Higher Taxes
How easy should it be for your neighbor to raise your taxes?
That is the question Utah voters will answer this upcoming election. Amendment B would require statewide citizen ballot initiatives that create new taxes, increase existing taxes, or expand existing taxes to receive at least 60% voter approval before becoming law. Today, those same initiatives need only a simple majority.
Why does this matter to you? Because taxes touch every part of your life. They shape your family budget, your retirement income, the cost of your home, and the price of nearly everything you buy. When a tax increase lands, it lands on all of us. Which means it should only happen when there is substantial support from the very people who will pay for it, not those who pay for expensive campaigns to pass a ballot initiative.
Here’s the part that should concern every taxpayer.
When elected officials raise your taxes, you know exactly who to hold accountable at the ballot box. And if a future legislature decides the tax was a mistake, it can be reversed. Citizen initiatives work differently. They are drafted solely by the proponents of the increase, with little public input on the details, and once passed, they cannot be revised except through another costly initiative campaign. A tax increase locked into law by 50%-plus-one is a raw deal for Utah families.
Amendment B does not take anything away from voters. It preserves Utah’s citizen initiative process and your right to propose measures and vote directly on public policy. It keeps the decision exactly where it belongs: in the hands of Utah voters. It simply says that when a proposal would take more money from Utah families, workers, and businesses, it should earn broad support before it becomes law.
A vote FOR Amendment B means higher standards for higher taxes. That’s a principle every Utahn and every member of the Utah Taxpayers Association can get behind.
But an amendment only passes if voters understand it, that is where you come in.
Between now and Election Day, talk to your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your colleagues about Amendment B. Most Utahns have never considered the difference between a tax passed by legislators and one locked in by initiative. When they hear the difference, the case for Amendment B sells itself.
This November, let’s protect the family bank account. Vote YES on Amendment B.