Apparently the state Supreme Court thinks so. In a controversial 5-4 decision today the Court threw out I-747, the 1 percent cap on property tax increases. So why did the Court do this? The majority believed the voters were misled and didn't realize the measure advertised as limiting property tax increases to 1 percent really meant limiting property tax increases to 1 percent.
Justice Charles Johnson in his dissent took serious issue with the majority's viewpoint that voters don't know how to read or comprehend:
The majority seems to suggest that the voters are unable to think or read for themselves, when in fact our democratic process is based on the assumption that voters do in fact read and understand the impact of their votes.
It is very likely that had Justice Jim Johnson not recused himself from the ruling due to his involvement drafting I-747 the ruling would have been in favor of the will of the people to limit property tax increases to 1 percent.
Unlike the court, I happen to think the people are smart enough to know what they are doing even when I don't like the results.
The Justices were voted in by the same populaton that is now considered too stupid to know what they were voting for.
The Justices must know from first hand experience how easliy the voters are misled and confused in their voting decisions - all they need to do is review their campaigns.
What these illustrious Justices fail to realize, or even comprehend, is that the voters voted for an outcome, not a delta.
The delta would have been the tax rate before the one percent - either 2 percent or 6 percent.
The outcome was the one percent mentioned in the title, the newspaper articles, the for and against arguments, etc.
The PEOPLE were specifically setting the tax increase cap at one percent. Where it was at the time was immaterial.
Posted by: SouthernRoots | November 08, 2007 at 07:38 PM