Iowans for Tax Relief, an organization that advocates for lower taxes and “less government,” announced the launch of a campaign Wednesday to educate Iowans about an amendment to the state’s constitution that will be on the ballot this November.
Senate Joint Resolution 11, or Amendment 1 as it will appear on the ballot, will ask voters if they support an amendment to the Iowa Constitution to make tax increases in the state more difficult to implement by requiring approval from a two-thirds majority of the Iowa Legislature, rather than a simple majority.
During a video call Wednesday, Chris Hagenow, the president of ITR, said he believes Iowans fully support this amendment.
“We are launching our website for this initiative to make tax hikes harder, and the whole goal of the campaign is simply to raise awareness that this is on the ballot and this is what it does,” Hagenow said. “We believe strongly that Iowans support the premise of this amendment, and that they support the idea of it being hard to raise their taxes.”
Hagenow emphasized that the amendment does not prohibit Iowa lawmakers from raising taxes, but will make it more difficult to do so.
Hagenow also said ITR plans to run a “robust” paid media campaign to get the word out through television advertisements, radio, mail and potentially other platforms.
Hagenow said he is not in a position to say how much money ITR has raised for its media campaign.
Democrats who opposed the measure during debate over the past two legislative sessions argued it would tie future lawmakers’ hands from responding to a budget crisis. Opponents of the measure noted Iowa is already using its reserves to cover budget shortfalls due to income tax cuts approved over the past several years.
When asked about how he’d respond to critics of the proposed amendment, who may cite the need for raising taxes in an economic downturn scenario, Hagenow said the Iowa Legislature should continue to think about tax increases as a “last resort.”
“It’s not taking that off at the table. It just needs a broader consensus for it,” Hagenow said. “There can be arguments from folks that want the ability to tax more, to take more of Iowans dollars, to to continue to fund as much government as they can. That’s just a philosophical difference, and that’s not something we’re going to spend a lot of time on.”
