In early returns, Washington voters were favoring professional initiative sponsor Tim Eyman’s latest tax-limiting initiative.
Initiative 1366 was leading with nearly 54 percent of the vote at 8:30 p.m., according to the Secretary of State’s election results website.
At a Krispy Kreme donut shop in north Seattle, Eyman told reporters this is the sixth time Washington voters had approved a super-majority requirement for tax hikes.
“I think it’s time once and for all for us to settle this debate with a two-thirds for taxes constitutional amendment vote," he said.
This initiative would reduce the state sales tax from 6.5 percent to 5.5 percent unless lawmakers send voters a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote of the legislature or a vote of the people to raise taxes.
Constitutional amendments in Washington require a two-thirds votes of the legislature and ratification by a simple majority of Washington voters
That decrease in the state sales tax would result in an estimated $8 billion loss of revenue over six years.
Eyman sponsored I-1366 after the Washington Supreme Court in 2013 tossed out as unconstitutional his previous voter-approved two-thirds requirement for tax hikes.
Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network
