‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’—Alice in Wonderland
Democratic leaders (and their lawyers) think they have cleverly found ways around the budget impasse. Like a sideshow magician, they have crafted slight-of-hand maneuvers to increase sales and income taxes, which they claim are not tax increases at all. They order up an oil severance tax, something rejected not too long ago by the voters. And, they declare taxes on gasoline to be fees so that they can raise those fees by a majority vote.
Wouldn’t life be simpler if we could decide the meanings of words for our own convenience? Then no one would have to play by the rules because everybody would constantly be changing the rules to serve their own purposes. That is what the Democrats are attempting to do by changing the nomenclature of taxes to fees.
The authors of this plan claim they can justify the changes under the law. Their explanations stretch the law like silly putty to fit their needs. We’ll see if a court supports their logic. I doubt it.
However, if courts allow this trickery to proceed then two can play this dangerous game.
The state constitution in Article II, Section 9 prohibits the use of the referendum process for, among a list of items, “statutes providing for tax levies.” This section of the constitution says nothing about fees. If the Democrats say there is a difference between taxes and fees, then clearly a referendum can be mounted to reject a statute containing fees.
The Democrats should remember what happened to Humpty Dumpty.