Tax Limitation Amendment Introduced -- 03/26/1999

Tax Limitation Amendment Introduced

26 March, 1999

By Ben Anderson
CNS Staff Writer

(CNS) – A bipartisan, bicameral coalition of congressional leaders launched a campaign for a "Tax Limitation Amendment." House and Senate members from both parties gathered this week to announce the effort to require a two-thirds supermajority for a tax increase.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) is sponsoring the bill in the House with 167 cosponsors while Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is hosting a similar effort in the Senate with 23 cosponsors.

But the TLA show won't stay on Capitol Hill for long, while Barton takes his message on a four-city tour during Congress' Easter recess April 7 and 8. The tour will include Austin, Atlanta, Chicago and New York City.

"Americans deserve the protection the Tax Limitation Amendment will provide," Barton said. "Taxes are higher than they have been since World War II, and even now, when we're facing a budget surplus, President Clinton's budget calls for an amazing $108 billion in new taxes and fees. We have to stop this tax-and-spend habit that has become all too common in Washington. The TLA will do that."

Barton's office released a statement Thursday indicating the Tax Limitation Amendment has the support of a number of governors including George Pataki of New York, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Kirk Fordice of Mississippi and George W. Bush of Texas.

Individual state legislatures have done a better job of passing bills similar to the Tax Limitation Act, according to Barton's spokeswoman Samantha Jordan. Fourteen states have already enacted legislation and 19 more have plans in the process. Illinois is expected to act on a bill in April while Iowa's legislature is set to move by June. Texas, Jordan said, may also act on tax limitation legislation by the end of the year.

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