Michigan voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales and gas tax increase on Tuesday, defeating Prop. 1 by an 80 – 20 margin. The coalition of spending interests pushing the tax increase outspent their opponents 17 – 1 yet still suffered a historic defeat. 

Proponents, including Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, sold the tax hike measure as a means of funding “roads and bridges.”

“The tax and spenders and their advocates in the media thought they had finally found the secret sauce: hold highway spending hostage to higher taxes,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “The verdict is now in from Michigan. A big No.” 

According to Gongwer News Service, the abysmal support for the tax hike is the “lowest percentage of the vote for a constitutional amendment since the adoption of the 1963 Constitution.”

The latest available numbers from the Secretary of State’s office show a vote breakdown as follows:

YES:                 349,813

NO:                  1,405,716

According to public filings, pro-tax hike forces raised $9,049,010 while tax hike opponents raised $519,138.