Liberal Forum

jerrab » Yesterday, 2:26 pm » wrote: ↑

Yesterday, 2:26 pm

Missouri voters rejected major Republican priorities on Tuesday as proposals to eliminate the income tax and change the way initiative petition majorities are counted lost by large margins across the state. Amendment 4 lost 80% to 20%, while Amendment 5 fared worse, losing 83% to 16%. “Amendments 4 and 5 have been buried so deep in citizen rejection, they should never come back,” said Scott Charton, spokesman for the two Missouri Realtor-funded opposition groups, Missourians for Fair Governance and Missourians for Fair Taxation.One measure of the magnitude of the “no” vote is that it created a mirror image of the majority requirement Amendment 4 would have imposed on constitutional amendments proposed by initiative.Amendment 4 would have required amendments to achieve a majority in every congressional district in order to pass. All eight of Missouri’s congressional districts opposed both Amendment 4 and Amendment 5.Speaking at a gathering with other organizations that worked against the two amendments, Charton said the outcome validated the need for a strong initiative process and taxpayer rights.“Citizen-led, voter-approved constitutional taxpayer protections have been strongly defended and reaffirmed by the people of Missouri, and our fellow Missourians sent a powerful message to Jefferson City,” Charton said. “The people are in charge. The majority rules, and every citizen’s vote counts equally.”Two other statewide ballot questions, Amendment 1 and Amendment 2, were passing easily, each receiving in excess of 75% of the vote.Amendment 1 extends the 0.1% sales tax that supports state parks and soil and water conservation. Amendment 2 will require that all county tax assessors be elected officials and affects only Jackson County.