State Ballot Measures: 11 Hot Topics in 2012's Other Electoral Frontline

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http://www.alternet.org/state-ballot-measures-11-hot-topics-2012s-other-electoral-frontline



There’s more at stake in the November election than who will sit in the White House next year. Voters in 37 states with ballot initiatives and legislative referenda will vote on 174 different proposals that range from overturning anti-union laws passed by Republican legislatures, to tax measures to fund education, to legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational use, to upholding gay marriage, to ending the death penalty and labeling food with genetically modified ingredients.

Those are just some of the topics that will come before voters this fall, with 50 of them drafted by interest groups on the political left and right that filed qualifying petitions. Here's a rundown on the hottest topics on the state political frontlines.

1. Taxes

There are more tax questions on November ballots than any other topic—31 in all. The most visible are revenue-raising measures that are testing the political waters to see if voters have had enough with years of cuts to schools and other needed state services.

California leads the way with two of the most controversial measures. Proposition 30 , sponsored by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, raises income taxes for earnings above $250,000 and the state sales tax by 0.25 percent for several years, in order to prevent further cuts to schools and other services. The second, Proposition 38 , is sponsored by education advocates and raises state income taxes and dedicates 60 percent of revenue to schools. In Arizona and South Dakota , tax hikes also would be dedicated to schools, while a Missouri measure would raise tobacco taxes for health education.