California Proposition 217, Income Tax Increase Initiative (1996)
| California Proposition 217 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 1996 | |
| Topic Taxes | |
| Status | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
California Proposition 217 was on the ballot as an initiated state statute in California on November 5, 1996. It was defeated.
A "yes" vote supported reinstating an income tax increase for individuals earning between $115,000 to $230,000 per year, which ended in 1995, and allocating the revenue from the increase to schools and local governments. |
A "no" vote opposed reinstating an income tax increase for individuals earning between $115,000 to $230,000 per year, which ended in 1995. |
Election results
|
California Proposition 217 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 4,575,550 | 49.20% | ||
|
|
4,723,873 | 50.80% | ||
Measure design
If Proposition 217 had been approved, it would have reinstated the income tax increase for certain taxpayers earning a specific amount of money per year, which ended in 1995 and allocated the money from this tax increase to schools and local governments.
Under Proposition 217, the personal income tax rate for individual taxpayers earning from $115,000 to $230,000 would have increased to 10% from 9.3%. For those earning over $230,000, the rate would have gone to 11%. For married couples, the rate would have gone to 10% for couples earning between $230,000 and $460,000, while for couples earning over $460,000, the rate would have increased to 11% from 9.3%.
These tax increases would have affected approximately 1% of the state's taxpayers; a group that was cumulatively paying about $6.5 billion a year in state income taxes to California in 1996, or 31% of the state's total annual state income tax collections.
Approximately half of the additional revenues raised by the proposed tax increase would have gone to local governments and the other half would have been earmarked for local school districts.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Proposition 217 was as follows:
| “ | Top Income Tax Brackets. Reinstatement. Revenues to Local Agencies. Initiative Statute. | ” |
Ballot summary
The ballot summary for this measure was:
| “ |
Retroactively reinstates 10% and 11% tax rates, respectively, on taxpayers with taxable income over $115,000 and $230,000 (current estimates), and joint taxpayers with taxable income over $230,000 and $460,000 (current estimates). Requires Controller to apportion revenue from reinstated tax rates among counties. Requires counties to allocate that revenue to local government agencies based on each local agency's proportionate share of property taxes which must be transferred to schools and community colleges under 1994 legislation. Prohibits future reduction of local agency's proportionate share of property taxes. | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
In 1996, 433,269 valid signatures were required to qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot.
See also
External links
Footnotes
