Constitutional Amendment B: 60 Percent Vote for Citizen-Initiated Tax Increases
Statewide — all of Utah
General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- Referred by the Utah Legislature as S.J.R. 2 (2025 General Session), which passed the Senate 21-8-0 and the House 55-17-3. It takes effect November 23, 2026 if approved by a majority of those voting, and would apply to initiated legislation subject to a vote after November 1, 2026.[1]
- Ballotpedia lists two certified statewide measures in Utah for November 3, 2026.[4]
The question on the ballot
Shall the Utah Constitution be amended to require that citizen-proposed laws that increase taxes compared to existing law be approved by at least 60% of voters, instead of a simple majority?[2]
Amends Article VI, Section 1 so that a citizen-initiated law must be approved by at least 60% of those voting, rather than a majority, if it imposes a new tax, expands an existing tax to additional items or transactions, increases an existing tax rate, or (for a property tax) lowers the rate by less than it would under current law. The existing two-thirds requirement for initiatives on wildlife taking is unchanged. KUER reports that 60 percent of registered voters is about 1.25 million people, and that 2018 initiatives on Medicaid expansion (53.3%), medical marijuana (52.7%) and Proposition 4 (50.3%) passed with less than 60%. No fiscal estimate was found.[1][3]
A YES vote means
Requires that citizen-initiated laws that create or increase taxes be approved by at least 60% of voters instead of a simple majority.
A NO vote means
Keeps the simple-majority requirement for all citizen initiatives other than the existing two-thirds requirement for wildlife-taking initiatives.
The law today
Article VI, Section 1 currently lets voters initiate legislation for adoption 'upon a majority vote of those voting on the legislation', except that initiatives on the taking of wildlife require two-thirds. KUER reports that an initiative now passes if the number of yes votes is greater than the number of no votes.[1][3]
Arguments made for
- Republican Rep. Jordan Teuscher said during 2025 House floor debate (quoted by KUER): "This protects the taxpayers, makes sure that they really understand what they're doing as they move forward."[3]
- Republican Rep. Casey Snider said on the House floor in 2025 (quoted by KUER) that the higher threshold would protect rural Utahns: "Rural Utah lives in fear of suburbia, and it's not because you're ill-intentioned or anything like that, but it is because there are more of you than there are of us."[3]
- Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R-South Jordan) told the Salt Lake Tribune: "Families are struggling in meeting their bills right now. Property taxes are going up and incomes are not keeping pace with inflation, and it's right for the government to protect people's ability to afford their own lives."[5]
Arguments made against
- Elizabeth Rasmussen, executive director of Better Boundaries, said (as quoted by KUER): "They're using taxes kind of as a scare tactic to get people to vote yes, when in reality, it's about consolidating power, making it harder for us to exercise our constitutional right to use ballot initiatives."[3]
- Democratic Rep. Doug Owens said, as reported by KUER, that he believed half of Utahns were "as able as 60% to identify a good proposal."[3]
On record in support
Research notes & limits
The statewide ballot text is taken from the official county ballot published on the Utah Public Notice Website (the same statewide question appears on every county's ballot); the resolution text and legislative votes come from the Legislature's publication of the proposed amendments. The Lieutenant Governor's online voter information pamphlet (vote.utah.gov) carries the sponsors' and opponents' arguments, but the pamphlet PDF available did not include them, so the arguments below come from KUER's report quoting legislators and advocates on each side; they are not the pamphlet's official arguments. Ballotpedia is cited only for the count of certified statewide measures (two). A veto referendum on congressional boundaries, a public-union collective bargaining referendum and several initiatives are tracked by Ballotpedia as not on the ballot. No legislative fiscal note, voter-pamphlet arguments or campaign-finance totals were located (the le.utah.gov bill page and vote.utah.gov pamphlet could not be retrieved as raw text). Per the Salt Lake Tribune, the 2018 Medicaid-expansion and medical-marijuana initiatives, which included taxes, would have failed under a 60% threshold.
Sources · 6
Researched 2026-10-19. Green citations are official government records.
- 1.2026 Proposed Constitutional Amendments (H.J.R. 10 and S.J.R. 2) · Utah State Legislature · 2026 Official record
- 2.Official General Election ballot, Box Elder County (publication copy) · Box Elder County Clerk via Utah Public Notice Website · 2026-11-03 Official record
- 3.Here's what Utah Amendments A & B on your ballot are asking of voters · KUER · 2026-10-13 News report
- 4.Utah 2026 ballot measures · Ballotpedia · 2026-10-18 Reference
- 5.Amendment B in Utah: Measure would require citizen initiatives that raise taxes to get support from 60% of voters · The Salt Lake Tribune · 2026-10-12 News report
- 6.Utah Taxpayers Association homepage ('Vote FOR Amendment B!') · Utah Taxpayers Association · 2026-10-19 Candidate's own words