Arkansas voters have unfortunately approved Issue 1, a sales tax increase.

Americans for Tax Reform opposed this measure. Issue 1 will permanently increase Arkansas’s sales tax rate by 0.5 percentage points or 8.33%, resulting in Arkansas having one of the highest combined state and local sales tax rates in the country.

In 2012, Arkansas voters approved a “temporary” sales tax increase of 0.5 percentage points that was supposed to expire in 2023. Issue 1 will now make that tax hike permanent, which, contrary to many claims, is, in fact, a tax increase.

“Sadly, Arkansas saddled itself with a sales tax increase that was originally peddled by the state legislature and governor as temporary,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “Now, the Governor decided that promises to his voters are old fashioned. He broke his word and put a referred question that would make the “temporary” tax hike permanent. For ever and ever and ever.”

For further details, see ATR president Grover Norquist's op-ed here.

With 99% of precincts reporting, it appears California voters have rejected Proposition 15, a massive property tax increase. Americans for Tax Reform opposed this measure.

Joe Biden, Kamala, Harris, and the California Democratic Party endorsed Prop. 15, which would have raised taxes on California employers by as much as $12 billion annually by removing the Prop. 13 property tax limit for commercial properties.

California’s Proposition 13, passed by voters 42 years ago, limits the annual rise in the taxable value of a property, both personal and commercial, at 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is smaller. Prop. 15, if approved, would've removed this protection for California businesses worth more than $3 million by forcing it to be taxed at market value every year. Passage of Prop. 15 would've meant billions of dollars in higher property tax bills for Golden State businesses at a time when many are already struggling amid the current recession.

Prop. 15 was marketed as a way to raise taxes on large corporations, but the additional costs would've been passed along to small businesses who rent. As John Kabateck at the National Federation of Independent Business explains, “the majority of small business owners, upwards of 80%, rent their property. That cost is passed on directly from property owners.”

Even if Joe Biden emerges victorious, it's evident from the 2020 election results that there is no mandate for the massive tax increases that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are proposing. That much is clear based on both the outcome of US Senate races and blue state tax hikes like Prop. 15 in California. 

Americans for Tax Reform congratulates Governor-elect Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) on winning the general election. Gianforte is a signer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written commitment to Montana taxpayers that he will oppose and veto any and all efforts to raise state taxes.

This is not the first time the governor-elect has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Prior to being elected the next Governor of Montana, Gianforte signed and kept his "No New Taxes" pledge throughout his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives and worked with President Trump to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs act.

Gianforte will continue his legacy of protecting taxpayers in the governor’s mansion. On the campaign trail, he not only vowed to protect taxpayers from higher taxes, but also came out with a plan to get Montana’s economy booming again—the “Montana Comeback Plan”— in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Having a taxpayer ally in the executive branch is as important as ever next year. When lawmakers convene next legislative session to tackle a number of issues brought on by the Coronavirus, Montana voters can rest easy knowing that Gianforte will hold the line against tax increases.

Americans for Tax Reform offers the Pledge to all candidates for state and federal office. In addition to Governor-elect Greg Gianforte, 12 other sitting governors are signers of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

New candidates sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge regularly. For the most up-to-date information on these races or any other, please visit the ATR Pledge Database.  

Candidates can still make this important commitment to voters ahead of the primary by visiting: www.atr.org/take-the-pledge 

Massachusetts voters have rejected Question 2, ranked-choice voting. Over 54% of voters said no to the measure, with 83% of precincts reporting. 

Americans for Tax Reform opposed the measure. Question 2 would have instituted ranked-choice voting in Massachusetts primary and general election contests for state legislators, governor and other executive offices, federal congressional offices, and certain county offices. Massachusetts elections currently use a plurality voting system and semi-closed primaries.  

"Runoff elections would work fine, where there would be a second election day and the highest two vote-getters would advance to that,” explains Paul Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. “That allows the voters the ability — which ranked-choice, or instant-runoff voting, doesn't allow you — to have an understanding of who the final two [candidates] are to make the determinations.”