For voters in several states, Election Day will mean more than choosing a president, member of the House and possibly a U.S. Senator or opting to legalize recreational marijuana sales. It will involve voting on binding initiatives to increase or restructure state or local taxes.
Income tax increases are on the ballot in three states — Colorado, California and Maine — corporate tax changes on the ballot in two — Oregon and Louisiana — and soda taxes are considered in four municipalities, three in California. Here's what you need to know about these referenda.
Colorado
Colorado's Amendment 69 would impose a 10% payroll tax on top of the existing 4.63% individual income tax to fund a public option healthcare system called Colorado Care, which would be the first state tax-funded universal health care plan. (Vermont's plan previously was ultimately pulled by the governor because of cost estimates.) The public plan would replace most private insurance and consumers would have co-payments but no premiums to pay.
The Tax Foundation reports that if voters approve the amendment, Colorado will have the highest marginal income tax rate in the country, of 14.63%, but only one-third of that tax would be paid by employees — two-thirds would be paid by employers — so even the top-earning employees will be paying just under 10% unless they were self-employed and therefore subject to paying the whole tax.
California
California, which does have the highest marginal income tax rate in the country — 13.3% — would retain that distinction under Proposition 55, which extends a temporary income tax increase on high earners, passed in 2012 for another 12 years.
The tax applies to single taxpayers earning more than $250,000 and couples earning more than $500,000, starting at 1% and rising to as high as 3% for incomes over roughly $500,000 for singles and over $1 million for couples. Most of the revenue raised would be allocated to fund public schools and community colleges but some would be used to fund health care programs in certain years. A no vote on Proposition 55 would end the temporary income tax surcharge in 2019.
Maine
Maine's Question 2 would increase the state's top individual income tax rate to 10.15% from 7.15% for households earning over $200,000. The additional revenues would be used to fund kindergarten to grade 12, increasing the state's portion to 55% of total costs – a mandate that voters previously approved in a 2004 referendum but has often not been met. The state currently pays about 47% of school costs.
Olympia, Washington
Initiative 1 asks voters in this state capital to approve a 1.5% local income tax to fund a college grant program that, according to proponents, would provide every high school graduate in town funding for at least one year od public community, technical or 4-year college in the state. The Tax Foundation says the ballot initiative is also designed as a legal challenge to the state's prohibition against any state or local income tax. If the referendum passes it's expected to be challenged in the courts. The 1.5% tax would be levied on household income above $200,000.
Corporate Tax Initiatives: Oregon and Louisiana
This year's ballot initiatives also include changes to corporate tax structures in two states: Oregon and Louisiana.
Oregon's Measure 97 would impose a 2.5% tax on gross receipts for corporations with revenues over $25 million that are earned in Oregon. Only C-corps are affected. S-corps and "benefit companies," defined under Oregon law as companies established to create public benefits in addition to profits for owners, would be exempt from the new tax.
