A Republican state lawmaker who backed a failed attempt to overturn a county tax levy wants to make it tougher for counties to raise taxes.
Opponents of a sales tax increase on Montgomery County tried and failed to take a repeal to the ballot. So Rep. Niraj Antani says he’s proposing a bill requiring county commissioners get voter approval to raise taxes in the first place.
“This is about empowering the people," says Antani. "This isn’t about……look, I’m against all tax increases. I could have sponsored a bill that would have disallowed any more tax increases but I thought the fair and responsible thing was to at least say that the people should have a voice in whether a tax is raised or not.”
Counties say they’re capped on how much they can hike taxes, but they need the ability to raise taxes to fund mandated services, especially after losing state revenue in recent years.