TAX LIMITS: TRY AGAIN

There has barely been time to take a breather since 68 percent of Missouri's voters rejected Amendment 7, the so-called Hancock II proposal. This complicated measure frightened voters. Its complex language even confused some of the state's top judges who were involved in pre-election legal jousting over the amendment. But already there is talk of another attempt to set limits on state spending and to give voters the final say on major statewide tax increases.

Much of the fear voters developed about Amendment 7 was what it would do to taxes that already were in place. Would they be rescinded? And public officials all over the state trumpeted the likely calamity that would occurs through massive spending cuts if the amendment passed. Clearly the intricacies of the amendment had the effect of self-destruction. And the voters responded in kind.

But there is widespread sentiment that something needs to be done to prevent another legislative fiasco like Senate Bill 380, which rewrote the formula for financing schools and imposed a whopping $300 million tax increase in the process -- all without a vote of the people. In Joplin, an unscientific telephone poll a week after the election asked: "Would you favor a less complicated version of the proposed Hancock II amendment to give Missouri voters the right to approve all tax increases? Overwhelmingly, 78 percent of the respondents said yes, while 13 percent said no, 3 percent said they didn't know and 6 percent said they didn't care.

Clearly, a simple proposition to set an annual and cumulative cap on how much lawmakers can raise taxes without voter approval is generally viewed as a step in the right direction. The Missouri Farm Bureau, which has a powerful reach all over the state through its membership, is interested in another attempt. The Farm Bureau was instrumental in the passage of the first tax-limiting Hancock Amendment in 1980. The first step for the organization will be to ask legislators to put a proposal before the voters.

But if the legislators turn fickle and don't do the job, there are plenty of Missourians who say they are willing to use the initiative petition process to get a proposal on the ballot. Among them: The far-reaching Farm Bureau.

This is a priority for Missouri taxpayers. State spending has grown 20 percent in two years, to $12 billion from 10 billion, without a corresponding jump in population or economic development.

Voters have proven they are no longer content to be unwitting sheep while the wolves roam unchecked. Ballot boxes all over the nation this year have contained bombs that have blasted old ideas and tiresome thinking. Voters have had a taste of their full potential, and they aren't likely to stop with their Election Day rout.

Elected officials can restore some of their trust with voters by acting responsibly and swiftly to craft a new tax-limit amendment. Missouri doesn't need another Hancock II. It needs a simple, easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement proposal. The voters will take care of the rest.