Utah voters reject higher bar for tax-related initiatives

What voters decided

Utah voters rejected Amendment B, a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have raised the approval threshold for certain tax-related ballot initiatives. The Associated Press declared the amendment defeated before 10 p.m.

The Utah Constitution currently allows citizen-proposed laws to pass with a simple majority. Amendment B would have required at least 60% support when an initiative created a tax, expanded an existing tax, increased a tax rate or changed a property tax rate in a way that produced a smaller rate decrease than existing law would provide.

With the amendment rejected, those initiatives remain subject to the current simple-majority requirement. Election results become final after county and state canvasses, which were scheduled to be completed within two weeks of Election Day.

Campaign over the threshold

Amendment B drew organized opposition from Utahns Protecting Our Constitution, a political issues committee that included Better Boundaries. More than was spent on the effort to defeat the proposal. Elizabeth Rasmussen, Better Boundaries’ executive director and a spokesperson for the committee, said after the initial results that the group was encouraged but would wait for the count to be completed before making further statements.

Utah Republican Party Chair Rob Axson called the result unfortunate. He argued that tax increases should require broad voter agreement and said the spending against Amendment B affected the campaign. Axson also said voters had the authority to make the decision and that it must be followed.

A separate proposal, Amendment A, was receiving about 60% support in preliminary results. That measure concerned how proposed constitutional amendments must be published before an election.