From the City Paper:

Recalling political protests that roiled the legislature a decade ago, senators voted Wednesday to amend the Tennessee constitution to ban the state income tax.

The Senate voted 28-5 for the Republican-backed resolution. If it also passes the House by a majority in this General Assembly and then by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate in the next, it would go on the ballot for voter approval in the 2014 elections.

In 2002, a state income tax won 45 votes in the House and drew rowdy protests to the Capitol. The state Supreme Court has ruled three times — most recently in 1964 — that the constitution already prohibits an income tax. But the state attorney general issued an opinion in 1999 saying the tax was permissible. Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, said his resolution is needed to resolve the issue.

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