When states experience budget gaps and slow revenue growth lawmakers are put in the difficult position of balancing their state budget.
Lawmakers have numerous ways of balancing a budget. One of them is to increase or impose new taxes, but doing so is unpopular and often met with pushback. In fact, some policymakers and taxpayer groups respond by advocating to restrict legislative tax power through supermajority requirements.
Supermajority requirements exist in 16 states as of 2025. These requirements dictate either a three-fifths, two-thirds, or three-fourths majority vote in both chambers to increase or impose a new tax. In 13 states the supermajority requirement applies to all taxes. The remaining states only apply the supermajority rule to select taxes.
A Brief History on Supermajority Requirements
Arkansas was the first state to adopt a supermajority rule in 1934. Courts in Arkansas ruled the requirement could only apply to taxes that existed at the time: property, income and excise taxes. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida followed in the late 60’s and early 70’s. In 2018, Florida amended the supermajority requirement to expand to all taxes instead of only the corporate tax.
In the early 1970’s, citizens in California and South Dakota voted in favor of measures to require supermajority votes to raise or impose taxes. In 1980, voters in Delaware also voted to pass a supermajority requirement. Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon and South Dakota joined the number of states with supermajority requirements in the 1990s.
In 1994, voters in Michigan approved a supermajority requirement to raise property taxes as part of a major tax reform that changed the way education was funded. In 2000, Kentucky lawmakers approved a measure creating annual legislative sessions and a condition that any bills raising revenue introduced in an odd-number year require three-fifths approval.
California voters expanded the supermajority requirement in 2010 to include fee increases. The next year, Wisconsin became the latest state to adopt a supermajority requirement. Since then, lawmakers have introduced bills to require supermajorities for tax increases in several states, but none of the efforts have been successful.
Do Supermajority Requirements Restrict the Growth of Taxes?
Regardless of supermajority requirements, states generally seek tax increases as a last resort. Research has found that, on average, states with supermajority requirements to raise revenue and those with simple majorities levy taxes at similar rates.
A major factor that plays into the efficacy of supermajority requirements is the political makeup of a state’s legislature. In states with one predominant party, the majority party may be able to muster enough votes to increase taxes or block tax proposals. In other states, supermajority requirements can stifle lawmakers’ ability to quickly adapt to changing economic conditions.