The Iowa Legislature passed an important taxpayer protection during the final weekend of the 2026 session, sending a proposed constitutional amendment to the November ballot. Iowa voters will now have the opportunity to consider an amendment that would require a two-thirds majority vote in both legislative chambers to increase income taxes.
At its core, the amendment is about putting a higher bar between taxpayers and tax increases. Requiring a two-thirds vote means taxes can’t be raised by a simple majority of legislators or in the heat of a budget shortfall; it forces broad agreement and real justification before Iowans are asked to pay more. Other states show what happens without that kind of protection: when spending pressures rise, raising taxes can quickly become the default response. This amendment flips that dynamic. It protects Iowa families and businesses by making tax increases the last resort—not the first option—and by pushing government to prioritize, manage responsibly, and live within its means before ever coming back to taxpayers for more.
Increasing taxes should be difficult, and taxpayers deserve that protection in the Constitution. The reality is that tax increases are always a possibility. While Iowa is required to balance its budget and cannot deficit spend like the federal government, future legislatures could still raise the flat tax or revert to a progressive, multi-rate income tax to generate more revenue.
The late David M. Stanley, founder of Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation, spent his career championing the cause of Iowa taxpayers, both in the legislature and through his advocacy for fiscal restraint.
From the 1960s until his passing in 2015, Stanley consistently fought for taxpayers. Whether addressing income, sales, property, or other taxes—at the local, state, and federal level—he understood that excessive taxation was driven by government spending.
One reform he strongly supported was a constitutional amendment requiring a supermajority vote in both chambers of the legislature to raise taxes. He believed constitutional limits on taxation and spending were necessary because politicians would not restrain government growth on their own.
Throughout his public life, Stanley argued that government spending was the primary driver of higher taxes. “It is easier for politicians to yield to noisy special interest groups when the taxpayer keeps quietly paying the bills,” he said.
For that reason, he was an ardent supporter of fiscal rules and spending limitations. He referred to these protections as “Taxpayer Rights Amendments,” believing that “constitutional tax limits will cut government’s percentage slice of your income and let you keep a bigger share of what you earn and produce.”
He also understood the common dynamic in government budgeting: “A cut to them doesn’t mean the same thing that it does to you. In government, it means that you ask for a large increase and you got a somewhat smaller one.”
Finally, Stanley reminded taxpayers that “we’re in politics whether we want to be or not,” and that citizens have a responsibility to stay engaged. Whether “war or peace, good or bad schools, high or low taxes,” outcomes depend on political decisions. “The only time we get dirty politics,” he said, “is when good, clean citizens sit back and ignore government.” This November, taxpayers cannot afford to sit back and ignore government. The stakes are too high. It is now our responsibility, as citizens and taxpayers, to protect Iowa families and businesses from politicians who will too often choose to spend more and tax more.
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