Voters this week ‘showed their support for taxing the rich’ in spite of the likely failure of a billionaire’s wealth tax in California

Voters weighed in on tax ballot initiatives across at least 10 states this week, returning verdicts that demonstrate plenty of “tax the rich” sentiment despite the likely failure of California’s high-profile plan for a wealth tax.

Other successful measures sought to limit taxes on Americans of more modest means either through new caps on state income taxes or lower property taxes.

Voters’ affordability worries ran, “at least in part, through the tax code,” as the Tax Foundation summarized the results in a wrap-up of the races.

In California, a billionaire tax imposing a one-time 5% wealth tax on state residents and trusts with assets over $1 billion appeared on track to fail, after voters cooled on the effort as the campaign wound down.

But proponents of other taxes on the rich counted plenty of wins, including elsewhere on California’s ballot.

The state’s voters approved permanently higher tax rates on incomes starting at $250,000 in a separate measure that solidified rates first approved in 2012 to fund education.

Elsewhere in the US, a “millionaires tax” in Washington state survived with 58% of voters rejecting a proposal to repeal a new 9.9% tax on individual and household wage income above $1 million per year to fund education, healthcare, and other priorities beginning in 2028.

Colorado is on track to narrowly pass a measure to raise taxes on its richest residents. That initiative aims to raise rates on incomes above $500,000 and tops out at 8.4% for incomes over $1 million.

“In three of four cases, voters showed their support for taxing the rich,” the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said in an analysis of state tax ballot measures, calling it a win for tax fairness.

(The California wealth tax initiative and the Colorado measures have not yet been formally called by the Associated Press, so the results could change.)

A range of measures to limit taxes

Elsewhere in the nation, voters put a cap on future tax increases.

North Carolina voted to permanently cap state income taxes at 3.5% and approved a second measure to limit property taxes imposed at the local level.  

Iowa approved its own measure that sets a higher threshold for lawmakers to approve future tax hikes. Utah approved a similar measure making it harder for future voters in the state to raise taxes through ballot initiatives.

Florida voters moved on housing costs and approved a phased-in $250,000 homestead exemption to limit property taxes except those used to fund public schools.

The vote on Florida’s Amendment 3, according to an Associated Press tally, was 62% in favor. 

Such measures have ripple effects on state budgets for years. The Tax Foundation warned that Florida’s move leaves “local governments in the lurch and incentivizes them to raise rates on property still in the tax base or to generate more revenue from less economically efficient taxes.”

Other states voted to keep things where they are. 

Massachusetts voters appeared on track to reject an effort to expand the state’s so-called revenue limit, which, if approved, could have resulted in smaller tax refunds.

Oklahoma rejected a plan this week to change property tax assessment limits. Wyoming voted in a similar direction, rejecting a plan that would have established a new 50% property tax exemption for homeowners.

Missouri also rejected a state income tax measure this summer that would have phased it out entirely.

Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.