Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature want to put on the ballot a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would require a 60 percent majority of the Legislature to raise taxes in the state.

But Gov. Mark Dayton said it’s a bad idea and called it a “millionaires tax protection amendment,” MPR reports.

The governor feels that such a requirement would make it impossible for him to push his plan to raise taxes on the state’s highest earners.

Dayton said at the fair Monday:

“To say that people in the future don’t have the right to make their own decisions on a majority basis to me is just selfish and short sighted. And it’s going to have the practical effect of keeping our taxes unfair and unequal and allowing the richest Minnesotans to avoid paying their fair share, and I’m dead opposed to that.”

Rep. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa introduced a bill last week — and 28 other Republicans signed on as co-sponsors — that would allow voters to decide whether tax increases should require 60 percent in the Legislature, rather than the current simple majority.

MPR quoted Drazkowski:

“Minnesotans have resoundingly talked about bringing responsibility to the spending and stopping the taxing and spending we’ve been doing throughout our history. And we see about a 20 percent increase in the growth of government up until the current biennium as far back as we can see.”