Slide 24 of 84

Related to the power to tax, there are two key sections in the constitution. The first is, "The legislature shall impose taxes, sufficient with other resources, to pay expenses of state government." It puts the responsibility squarely with the legislature to raise the resources that support the programs in that the state operates. Because this language certainly doesn't suggest that the legislature should raise any more resources than are needed to support the expenses of state government, it also reinforces the balanced budget provision that we will cover later.