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West Virginia Supermajority Vote for Tax Increases Amendment (2016)
| Supermajority Vote for Tax Increases Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2016 | |
| Topic Supermajority requirements | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
| Voting on Supermajority Requirements |
|---|
|
| Ballot Measures |
| By state |
| By year |
| Not on ballot |
The West Virginia Supermajority Vote for Tax Increases Amendment was not put on the November 8, 2016, ballot in West Virginia as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment. The measure, upon voter approval, would have required a 60 percent vote in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature to create new or increase existing taxes or fees.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed ballot title was:[1]
| “ | Super-Majority Required for Passage of Tax Bill Amendment[2] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary was:[1]
| “ | To provide that bills imposing a tax or license fee or increasing a tax or license fee may not be enacted unless sixty percent of the members of each house present vote in the affirmative for passage.[2] | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article X, West Virginia Constitution
The proposed amendment was designed to add a Section 5a to Article III of the West Virginia Constitution. The following text would have been added by the proposed measure's approval:[1]
(a) Bills imposing a tax or license fee and bills increasing the effective rate of any tax levied or fee imposed may not be enacted unless sixty percent of the members of each house, present and voting, vote in the affirmative for passage.
(b) Prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the Legislature shall appropriate revenues to pay interest on any debt for which it has pledged the state‘s faith and credit and which interest is payable in the year for which the appropriation is made and to pay the principal of the debt, payable in that year, whether at maturity or otherwise. If state revenues are not sufficient to pay the principal and interest on the debt when due and payable, any revenues received by the state shall be applied first to the payment of the principal and interest on the debt. The Legislature may, by a simple majority vote of the members of both houses present and voting in the affirmative, enact a bill to impose or increase a tax or fee as necessary to ensure that funds are available to pay the principal and interest on state debts when due and payable but it may not enact any other bill to increase taxes or fees by simple majority vote.
The provisions of this section do not apply to any tax or license fee authorized by an Act of the Legislature enacted prior to the ratification of this section by the voters.[2]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the West Virginia Constitution
The amendment needed to be approved by a two-thirds (66.67%) vote in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature in order to appear on a ballot.
The West Virginia Legislature's 2015 session ended on March 15, 2015, without the bill passing both chambers. Legislators had the opportunity to reintroduce the bill during the 2016 legislative session, which was projected to begin on January 13, 2016, and run through March 12, 2016.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 West Virginia Legislature, "House Joint Resolution 2," accessed February 25, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
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