Burns: Don't let voters decide on tax hike

The top Senate Republican is shying away from putting two measures on a special ballot this spring, at least in part because he fears voters will not decide the issues the way he wants.

Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, said Monday he has a "gut feeling" that a proposal for a temporary tax hike would turn into a one-sided campaign, with his personal position against the increase on the losing side. Burns said he believes that every group that hopes to get money from the taxes would pull out all the stops - and spend whatever it takes - to get it approved.

Burns also is balking at putting any plan to let lawmakers tinker with measures previously approved by voters on the same ballot, for the same reason: It might actually fail, which he does not want.

That position makes it murky, at best, whether lawmakers will agree to the calls made last week by Gov. Jan Brewer for a special election on both issues as a way to deal with the fact that state tax collections continue to run far below expenses.

Brewer also asked lawmakers to cut $1 billion in spending next year - with no specifics on which programs should be pared or eliminated - and said the state should expect another $1 billion in federal stimulus aid.

But the governor said that won't be enough to deal with an anticipated $3 billion deficit. So she asked lawmakers to raise an extra $1 billion a year for up to three years in new taxes.

The governor said lawmakers are free to do that themselves. But Burns said there isn't the necessary two-thirds margin in the House and Senate to do that.

Putting it on the ballot takes only a simple majority.

"This would probably not be a fair fight if it went to the ballot," Burns said. "The group that would be loaded with resources to run a campaign would be those who would end up on the receiving end of those increased tax dollars.

"I don't know we would have the same level of resources and so forth to hold that off. If it goes to the ballot and it's a one-sided campaign, that's dangerous."

The same is true, he said, of a call by Brewer to alter a 1998 constitutional provision that now bars legislators from altering anything that voters themselves have adopted. The governor said that change is necessary to give legislators maximum flexibility in deciding how to allocate the dollars they have to meet the state's needs.

Brewer did not say whether she wants the constitutional provision repealed outright or whether she wants to give voters a chance to reconsider each of the spending mandates.

The major one of these forbids lawmakers from cutting basic state aid to education and requires an increase each year to account for inflation.

Voters also have mandated that everyone below the federal poverty level get free health care. And they also enacted an 80-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes with the cash specifically earmarked for programs on early childhood development.

Burns said none of those special interests are likely to give up the funding without a fight.

The Senate president said, though, he was not saying that all one-sided campaigns are wrong or unfair, whether to adopt or alter new laws or to elect members of the Legislature.

"It depends on which side you're on, I guess," he said.

Gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said Brewer is not concerned about letting either lawmakers or the voters decide the issue.

"The governor actually proposed both of those as options, either to go to the ballot or for the Legislature to approve," he said. "Either one of them are valid options. Either one of them are acceptable to the governor."

Brewer, after tossing out both ideas last week, has been silent on specifics. The governor has not said which taxes she thinks should be increased and even declined to say exactly how long the extra revenues will be needed.

And Burns said Monday that the governor, in a meeting with him last Friday, has not laid out a timeline for an election.

House Speaker Kirk Adams said Monday he, too, is studying both issues and does not yet have a position on a special election.