Oct 9, 2026 · 49 min · 21 segments
On this episode, a conversation with the Republican nominee for Iowa's 2nd Congressional District Joe Mitchell. Mitchell is facing Democratic candidate Lindsay James in the general election. We…
Joe MitchellGuest
Karen KedrowskiGuest
Chris HagenowGuestLinda Sarah HagedornGuest
The amendment is actually, uh, really an exercise in limiting the power of the state legislature.
Instead of being able to pass taxes, um, or, or increases in income taxes with a s- with a simple majority, they would need a super majority, which, uh, of two-thirds, which would be, of course, a much higher bar to be able to pass.
Uh, so, you know, this is a pretty significant change to the operations of the state legislature, but of course, any time that politicians talk about, uh, not raising taxes or lowering taxes, it's very, very popular, right? Taxation is one of those things that a lot of politicians like to...
love to hate, right? Uh, what that misses, though, is that taxes really do fund government services, and in states like Iowa that require a balanced, um, budget, that's, um, a pretty big limitation on state power.
Right, and when we look back over the last 10, 20 years here in Iowa, it's been a long time since we've had divided government in our legislature, but even when we have, you know, getting two-thirds of a vote when votes are often highly partisan would be a huge hurdle, wouldn't it?
Um, and as you will be hearing from, you know, the, the other guests on the show, Iowa is not the only state that, um, has considered this.
Um, it's in place in about 16 other states, but most of these other states do not require a two-thirds majority, just a three-fifths majority, which is a lower proportion.
But also, the amendment does not call for any exceptions, such as, you know, financial exigency or natural disasters or some other kind of emergency.
All of us have just lived through COVID and recognize what an unprecedented, uh, time that was, um, to be able to, you know, raise taxes temporarily to deal with a crisis.
The amendment is actually, uh, really an exercise in limiting the power of the state legislature.
Instead of being able to pass taxes, um, or, or increases in income taxes with a s- with a simple majority, they would need a super majority, which, uh, of two-thirds, which would be, of course, a much higher bar to be able to pass.
Uh, so, you know, this is a pretty significant change to the operations of the state legislature, but of course, any time that politicians talk about, uh, not raising taxes or lowering taxes, it's very, very popular, right? Taxation is one of those things that a lot of politicians like to...
love to hate, right? Uh, what that misses, though, is that taxes really do fund government services, and in states like Iowa that require a balanced, um, budget, that's, um, a pretty big limitation on state power.
Right, and when we look back over the last 10, 20 years here in Iowa, it's been a long time since we've had divided government in our legislature, but even when we have, you know, getting two-thirds of a vote when votes are often highly partisan would be a huge hurdle, wouldn't it?
Um, and as you will be hearing from, you know, the, the other guests on the show, Iowa is not the only state that, um, has considered this.
Um, it's in place in about 16 other states, but most of these other states do not require a two-thirds majority, just a three-fifths majority, which is a lower proportion.
But also, the amendment does not call for any exceptions, such as, you know, financial exigency or natural disasters or some other kind of emergency.
All of us have just lived through COVID and recognize what an unprecedented, uh, time that was, um, to be able to, you know, raise taxes temporarily to deal with a crisis.
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