House soundly rejects amendment on tax, fee hikes

AUGUSTA – A measure that would have required super-majority votes before taxes or fees could be raised in Maine was rejected Thursday by the House of Representatives.

By an 83-59 roll-call, the House voted to turn down a constitutional amendment that would have mandated two-thirds votes in each chamber of the Legislature in order to enact or increase a tax or license fee.

Democrats opposed the measure, saying it shifts power into the hands of a minority of legislators on important revenue-generating bills. Republicans have made the two-thirds threshold a cornerstone of their agenda, said House GOP leader Josh Tardy, who called Thursday’s vote “disappointing but predictable.”

With only 59 members of the 151-member House voting against a motion to kill the measure, it fell far short of the two-thirds vote of approval that would be needed to pass it. The Senate has not voted on the proposal.

House Majority Whip Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, said requiring a super-majority effectively gives veto power to a minority of the Legislature. In a worst-case scenario, he said, as few as 12 members of the 35-member Senate could stymie legislation that otherwise has broad support.

“It would completely reverse the fundamental principles of free government, where the majority of the 186-member Legislature – representing a majority of state voters – could be held hostage by as few as 12 legislators,” Faircloth said.

Faircloth’s statement added that he hopes the issue will finally be put to rest, noting that a proposed House-Senate rule to impose a similar two-thirds requirement was set aside early in the session.

But Tardy, of Newport, said the idea is not dead and could come up again later this session when the Taxation Committee completes a tax-reform package.

“There are plenty of legislative vehicles for this to come back,” said Tardy.