When Americans head to the polls today, they’ll be asked to vote not just on politicians, but also on ballot measures. Many of these would have significant fiscal impacts on taxpayers. But there’s a lot of states, and a lot of measures in each state.
Some of the highlights from five states to keep an eye on today:
California
Proposition 40 is the wealth tax that so much ink has been spilled over. Not only has it already pushed hundreds of billions of dollars of billionaire wealth out of the state, it would immediately face an array of legal challenges that California would be left quixotically trying to fend off for years to come should it pass.
Colorado
Proposition NN would gut the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), raising the state’s spending caps by more than 25% and making TABOR refunds unlikely for years to come.
Amendment 87 would take Colorado’s current 4.4% flat income tax and replace it with a graduated income tax system with rates reaching as high as 8.4%; the next-highest income tax rate among Colorado’s neighbors is New Mexico’s 5.9% rate.
Florida
Amendment 3 would raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes from $50,000 to $250,000 by 2028. Local jurisdictions would likely respond by raising millages and local-option sales tax rates should Amendment 3 pass.
North Carolina
The Property Tax Levy Limit Amendment would direct the General Assembly to enact limits on the amount that property tax revenues collected by counties can increase each year. Levy limits are generally a more effective means of controlling property tax increases, as they do not create the distortions that assessment limits or targeted exemptions often do.
The Income Tax Rate Cap Amendment would lower and cap the state’s maximum income tax rate at 3.5%. The state currently has a flat 3.99% rate.
Washington State
Initiative 645 would repeal the state’s recently-passed income tax on millionaires, currently set to go into effect in 2028. Washington previously experienced a massive exodus of high-earners after passing a capital gains tax into law in May 2021.
That list is far from exhaustive, with at least 61 different statewide ballot measures affecting taxpayers. We will share updates on how they all turned out at our website, stay tuned.