Joe Barton: “So? I would like to walk through some of the constitutional mechanisms which I believe are very important, and which…”

“So? I would like to walk through some of the constitutional mechanisms which I believe are very important, and which show that the majority that supports this amendment wants the majority to speak on this amendment. The 16th Amendment allowed a Federal income tax. That passed with a two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate, was sent to the States, and three-fourths of the States ratified it. It is my belief that because of the 16th Amendment, which allowed income taxes to be placed on the heads of the American taxpayer, that we need a constitutional amendment raising the bar to a two-thirds vote. If we were to pass this amendment today, it would take two-thirds of the House. We would send it to the Senate, it would take two-thirds of the Senate. It would go to the States, it would take three-fourths of the States to ratify. Those States would ratify by a majority vote in the States, so there will be ample opportunity for a majority of the citizenry and their elected legislatures in this country to determine whether they want to raise the bar on raising taxes.”