If state Reps. Rich Murray, Tony Cornish and Jeanne Poppe don’t want people’s property taxes to go up even more than they already have lately, they must — yes, must — vote against any measures this session that would place a supermajority amendment on the November ballot.

In fact, any lawmakers with common sense should know to vote against such oddball restrictions.

A bill introduced in the Minnesota House calls for a constitutional amendment that would require a three-fifths supermajority vote in the House and Senate to pass any tax increase.

That sounds good on its face, but the state doesn’t control all taxes, just some of them. The failure of state lawmakers to pass any state tax increase in about a decade or so — except for a small gas tax following an embarrassing bridge disaster — only has forced local governments to raise property taxes to stay functional. Such a constitutional amendment only would make property taxes go up, something some far-right Republicans who authored the bill don’t seem to mind at all. Their anti-tax sentiments don’t seem very anti-tax to us, and nor should they to the more sensible moderate Republicans.

State lawmakers already have a tough time agreeing on a budget, let alone passing a tax increase. What’s the point of requiring a supermajority when the House and Senate already cannot find a simple majority?

Moreover, it is bad government to pass measures that shackle the decisions of future legislative sessions. Majority rule in the Legislature has worked fairly well for the past 154 years, making Minnesota a strong economic player with a vibrant education system. We are no Mississippi. We are no South Dakota. Why fix what’s not broken?

The supermajority measure and other bills calling for amendments to limit general fund spending won’t really limit overall spending anyway. If past history is a lesson — take the “no taxes” Pawlenty administration as an example — lawmakers, left and right, find creative ways to keep spending despite restrictions. The proposed amendments only will convolute an already convoluted system.

There will be victims of the proposed amendments, should they pass into law. Local government aid will be cut into drastically, and school equality will be harder to achieve. The state will be less able to adjust to changing population demographics, and it will have a harder time than neighboring states in its efforts to crawl out of the recession economy because it would be locked into 2012 status.

Legislators need to do their job and keep these bills from reaching the ballot. Lead. Take a stand. Don’t kick the can to the ballot. Kill these bad measures where they started — in your chambers.