hot topic | BALLOT INITIATIVES
Taxing by Ballot More than three decades after California voters approved Proposition 13 to limit property taxes in the state, voters in North Dakota had the opportunity to take that concept a step further and eliminate their property taxes altogether. “There were a lot of property owners that were upset about the growth of their property tax rates and the size of government,” said North Dakota House Speaker David Drovdal. That led to a ballot initiative in June that would remove the property tax entirely in North Dakota; it would have been the first state in the country to do so. As it turns out, North Dakotans were more worried about the potential consequences of such a move than their bottom lines—more than 76 percent voted against the measure. The use of ballot initiatives to decide big fiscal issues—like placing limits on tax rates
© AP Photo/Dale Wetzel
CAPITOL IDEAS
»
NOV / DEC 2012
28
or raising them—has been a popular strategy in recent years, for both legislators who would not have to make possibly unpopular votes and for advocacy groups that see an opportunity to convince voters directly.
Letting Voters Decide
In Arkansas, Rep. Jonathan Barnett cites the “anti-tax mood” of the public to explain why he pushed for a transportation funding initiative to be placed on the November ballot rather than asking legislators to vote for a tax increase in such a politically volatile atmosphere. “Legislators aren’t willing to make these major tax increase decisions out of a fear of too much fallout at the ballot box,” said Barnett. Barnett said the need to increase funding for infrastructure improvements outweighed the difficulty of breaching the topic
by Jennifer Horne and Jennifer Burnett of a tax increase. “Existing methods of financing highways—the gas tax—are not working anymore. At the same time, the cost of building and maintaining roads has increased,” he said. The Arkansas measure would raise the sales tax by half a cent, with the revenue used to issue bonds to fund up to $1.8 billion in road construction and improvements, including the creation of a four-lane highway system throughout the state. The measure is projected to raise $160 million annually for state highways and $34 million each for cities and counties. Barnett worked hard to convince legislators, including his fellow Republicans, to let the people decide whether to increase the tax. “What’s more American than letting people decide?” he said.
