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(Alexandria, VA) -- Today, the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) launched its 2011 General Election Ballot Guide: The Taxpayer’s Perspective. The guide covers 12 states that will consider 24 statewide and over 800 county, city, and local initiative and referendum measures dealing with fiscal policy. Though odd-year elections do not receive the attention and pageantry of Congressional and Presidential races, taxpayers will decide the fate of billions dollars when they step into voting booths this November.

“State and local ballot initiatives are often the votes where individual citizens exercise their greatest influence, truly demonstrating the will of the people,” said NTU State Government Affairs Manager Brent Mead. “The NTU Ballot Guide provides an invaluable resource for educating voters on the wide range of initiatives they will face on Election Day.”

NTU’s Taxpayer’s Perspective does more than just list the issues that voters will face; it also analyzes whether each measure is likely to expand or limit taxes and the size of government. For example:

• The largest tax hike proposal this fall is a measure that would raise taxes by $532 million per year in Colorado. Corporate income tax and personal income tax rates would increase from 4.63% to 5% and the state sales tax rate would increase from 2.9% to 3%.

• Ohio will be the busiest state overall with close to 500 ballot measures. They have two major votes with national implications. The first is a referendum on the state’s landmark collective bargaining reform, and the second is a repudiation of the individual mandate in the federal health care bill.

• The state of Washington will have the opportunity to privatize state liquor stores and secure gas tax funds so they can only be used on transportation projects.

While these statewide measures will likely dominate post-election headlines, there are also hundreds of local debt and tax measures on ballots as officials attempt to patch budget holes by demanding greater sacrifice from taxpayers.

“Despite the disproportionate coverage of horse-race politics, it is voters that will have the final say on billions of dollars this year,” Mead concluded. “Our Ballot Guide gives them a comprehensive educational tool to better inform themselves of their own power.”

NTU is a non-profit, non-partisan citizen group founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, smaller government, and economic freedom. Note: NTU’s 2011 General Election Ballot Guide: The Taxpayer’s Perspective is available online at www.ntu.org/ballotguide. An analysis of ballot measure election results will be published after November 2.