Voters Reject State Tax Measures

Tax-related ballot initiatives went down to defeat in several states, including one in Massachusetts that would have repealed the state income tax.

Question 1 was rejected by about 69 percent of Massachusetts voters. Opponents of the ballot measure, which included a coalition of labor unions and city officials, outspent supporters by about 10 to 1, according to the Boston Globe. They argued that passage of the measure would wreak havoc on the state's finances and services.

The Massachusetts referendum was just one of many tax-related ballot initiatives facing voters on Tuesday (see 23 States to Have Tax-Related Ballot Measures). Voters in North Dakota also defeated a ballot measure that would have cut state tax rates in half for most individuals, by a margin of 70 to 30 percent, according to North Dakota's The Forum. School districts, teachers, counties and farm groups banded together to fight the referendum.

In Colorado, voters also defeated a measure that would raise the state sales tax, according to the Associated Press. Oregon voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made federal taxes fully deductible on state returns, according to The Register-Guard. In Los Angeles, voters narrowly passed a half-cent sales tax hike to fund road and rail construction projects, according to the Los Angeles Times, but they rejected another ballot measure that would have raised property taxes to pay for anti-gang programs.