Efforts to raise state taxes largely failed. That wasn’t the case at the local level.
With a few exceptions, voters across the country on Election Day approved statewide proposals to reduce or limit taxes while also widely rejecting any efforts to raise them. But that wasn’t the story at the local level, where several tax increases passed.
Three out of four states voted to restrict tax policy. In Florida, voters enacted a two-thirds legislative supermajority requirement to pass a tax increase. Arizona voters favored a new ban on taxing services. And North Carolinians opted to lower that state’s income tax rate cap.
Measures that limit lawmakers’ taxing authority have a mixed track record. “These measures happen in waves,” says Wake Forest University political professor John Dinan. “You might say there’s a bit of a resurgence in their success judging by Tuesday’s results.”
GOVERNING.COM
BY LIZ FARMER | NOVEMBER 9, 2018