Gov. Janet Napolitano lashed out Wednesday at a proposal to make it harder for voters to enact tax hikes or new spending requirements by the government or even private individuals.

The governor said the plan, dubbed "Majority Rules," really is the exact reverse.

"They've named it very benignly," Napolitano said. "But one practical application is it allows really an effective minority to control the public policy agenda."

But Jason LeVecke, the fast-food franchise owner who is bankrolling much of the campaign, said it is Napolitano who is being dishonest by trying to preserve a system which allows a minority of Arizonans to raise the taxes on everyone else.

Proposition 105 would require that an absolute majority of registered voters approve any future voter-initiated measure that raises taxes. With more than 2.7 million people currently registered, that would require more than 1.36 million of them to vote in favor for such measures to take effect.

Had that measure been in effect two years ago, there would not have been an increase of 80 cents a pack on cigarettes to fund various programs for early childhood development: While the tax hike was approved by more than 53 percent of those who voted that year, the votes in favor amounted to less than 31 percent of those registered.

LeVecke, in a prepared statement, said he fears future efforts to increase taxes at the polls, especially now with the state in a deficit. In fact, the only real way to raise taxes now is with voter approval: Existing constitutional requirements for a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate for any increase in state revenue have prevented any legislative tax hikes since its adoption in 1992.

Napolitano said the measure makes no sense. "The way it works is that if somebody stays home and doesn't even take the effort to vote, their vote counts because they're effectively a 'no' vote," she said. "That's not fair. The vote should be the majority of those who take the trouble to vote."

And Napolitano said Proposition 105 also effectively would record "no" votes for those who have moved - or even have died - but whose names are still on the register.

"That's misleading, that's wrong," she said. "And it doesn't allow the majority of those voting to be able to express their opinion."

LeVecke, who owns the Carl's Jr. and Pizza Patron franchises in Arizona, would not agree to an interview for this article.

And Garrick Taylor, spokesman for the campaign, sidestepped questions of why those who do not bother to vote should be counted in opposition to the ballot measure. He said the goal of Proposition 105 is "just raising the threshold for raising taxes."

But in his prepared statement, LeVecke said Napolitano has an interest in preserving the current system. He pointed to her support of a measure to boost the state sales tax rate from 5.6 cents on a dollar to 6.6 cents to fund transit projects even in the face of the state's poor economy.