The state House of Representatives approved the wording of a constitutional amendment banning a state income tax Thursday, taking a step toward going before voters in 2014.
Lawmakers voted 73-17 for the amendment, which grew out of the defeat of a state income tax a decade ago. Votes on the amendment have been held annually since Republicans took control of both chambers of the legislature in 2008, and they will need to vote on the amendment again in 2013 or 2014 for it to make it onto the ballot.
Opponents of the amendment say the Tennessee Supreme Court has already ruled three times — in 1932, 1960 and 1964 — that the legislature lacks the power to impose an income tax. They say the amendment is grandstanding meant to work up voters over an issue that has been settled for years.
But supporters say the debate over an income tax in the late 1990s and early 2000s showed that the Supreme Court rulings are far from ironclad. Then-Gov. Don Sundquist argued that the constitution leaves the legislature latitude to tax, a position supported at the time by the state attorney general.
“It’s incumbent on us, the legislature, to make it very clear,” said state Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin, the amendment’s sponsor.
The amendment passed the state Senate last year. To go before the voters, it now must pass by two-thirds majorities of both chambers in the 108th General Assembly, which will convene after the elections this November.
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