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Living By The Initiative And Dying By The Initiative, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

A significant fiscal development in recent decades in many states has been revision of tax laws and policy not by legislatures but by voters through the initiative process. Initiatives often have been used to restrain the growth of taxes and spending, and to that extent the owners of wealth, property, and income have benefitted from initiatives. Among the many examples of controversial and important state tax and spending initiatives, one may think of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights in Colorado, the supermajority requirement for tax increases in Nevada, and of course Proposition 13 in California.

However, that gate swings both …