MN Voter’s Alliance seeks to repeal the Legacy amendment

The Minnesota Voter’s Alliance has launched a campaign to repeal the Legacy amendment, and the conservative group has pulled on two House Republicans to help in the effort.

GOP Reps. Tom Hackbarth and Mark Buesgens have introduced a bill to ask voters in 2012 if they want to repeal the ballot question that passed in 2008. The constitutional amendment, which passed with a 56 percent margin, dedicates money generated from a sales tax to the arts, outdoors and clean water over the next 25 years. The Legacy amendment is expected to generate $450 million in the next two years alone.

The Voter’s Alliance has set up a campaign site for the repeal effort. “For the first time in state history, our Constitution now specifies a 25-year, 0.375% addition to the sales tax that must be used for “outdoor heritage, clean water, parks and trails, and arts and cultural heritage,” the site reads. “Tax rates do not belong in the Minnesota Constitution and we believe there can be no legitimate opposition to asking today’s voters if they concur.”