Voters to decide fate of state taxes this fall

Filed 1h ago · Via Stateline · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Royal Banana

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: The White House · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

This November, voters in at least nine states will directly set tax policy through ballot measures, including a first-of-its-kind California proposal to take 5% of billionaires' net worth to patch budget holes left partly by federal funding cuts. Colorado, Washington, and Florida have their own competing measures, ranging from graduated income taxes to property tax rollbacks that could cost local governments up to $12 billion a year by 2031.

California's own Democratic governor opposes the billionaire tax his party narrowly endorsed, while Google's Sergey Brin has poured money into competing measures designed to undercut it if it passes. Polling shows barely 45% of likely California voters even support taxing their wealthiest residents.

Washington state, meanwhile, is being asked to repeal a millionaire tax that hasn't even been collected a full year yet, just as state estimates show it will bring in billions more than expected.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A state passes a tax, and before the ink dries somebody's already gathering signatures to undo it. That's not democracy in action, that's a dog chasing its own tail across nine states at once. Whoever wins in November, the billionaires will still have lawyers on retainer and the rest of us will still be filling out the same forms.

Source: Read the original at Stateline → Scored: Royal Banana · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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