Nation: Referendums: Rising Impatience

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Citizens sound off on taxes, pols and nukes

Not since the 1930s, when the Depression brought a spate of voter initiatives to the ballot, have citizens themselves proposed so many new laws—and limits—for government. David Schmidt, editor of Initiative News Report, describes it accurately as "a new national trend to lawmaking at the ballot box." In 18 states and the District of Columbia, voters put on the ballot a total of 42 referendums. Their actions ranged from a nonbinding vote by five southern New Jersey counties to secede from the state to a decision by residents of Washington, D.C., to take a first step toward statehood by calling for a Constitutional Convention; from the lifting of an eight-year ban on hunting mourning doves in South Dakota to the approval of bingo playing in Texas. Many of the initiatives reflected an impatience with politicians and an eagerness by the electorate to take matters into their own hands. Some of the most significant:

Taxes: Sons of Proposition 13. Ever since Californians voted to slash property taxes by 57% two years ago, Proposition 13 fever has been spreading across the country. This week tax-cutting measures appeared on ten state ballots. The tax revolt hit hardest in Massachusetts, a state that has long been dubbed Taxachusetts because of its high levies, including a property tax 70% higher than the national average. Bay Staters voted drastic relief in the form of Proposition 2½, which will limit a homeowner's property tax to 2.5% of the full market value, reduce the motor vehicle excise tax by 62% and allow renters to deduct 50% of then-annual rent from state income tax. State employees, teachers and labor leaders maintained that "2½" would force the average municipality to cut its budget by 40%, thus crippling public education as well as police and fire protection. The majority of homeowners evidently were swayed by arguments that the cuts could come from bureaucratic fat. Unlike California in its Proposition 13 days, however, Massachusetts lacks a budget surplus to cushion the blow, estimated at a $600 million loss in state revenues for the first year.

In Michigan, voters turned down a similar proposal that would have rolled back property assessments to 1978 levels, then cut taxes in half. The Tisch amendment, named after the Shiawassee County drain commissioner who drew up the proposal, at first had broad support led by homeowners and real estate developers, who believed that a revitalized economy would make up for the lost tax revenues. But Governor William Milliken, who had already cut more than $100 million from the budget this year, estimated that the amendment would cost the state an annual $2 billion. Michigan, Milliken said, would have to fire 24,000 state workers, close 84 state parks and 180 campgrounds, eliminate 7,000 beds for state mental patients, end financial aid to twelve of its 15 state colleges and universities and dismiss 75% of the state police force. His statistics were persuasive.

Other tax-cutting proposals patterned after Proposition 13 were defeated in Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Utah and South Dakota. Ohio voters, however, endorsed new methods of computing property taxes on homes and farms that allow for inflation, and Missouri voters approved an amendment to tie all state tax increases to the federal Consumer Price Index.