DENVER | Colorado voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal to raise income tax rates to fund public education in a state that has typically been averse to increasing taxes.
Amendment 73 would have increased the state individual income tax rate for people who earn more than $150,000 a year and boosted the corporate income tax rate to provide an additional $1.6 billion annually for schools.
Opponents argued the measure would be bad for the economy and would not guarantee better academic performance. They also said the Legislature would not have been able to adjust tax thresholds to account for inflation. Voters rejected similar measures in 2011 and 2013 by a 2-to-1 margin.
The proposal was one of more than a dozen statewide initiatives on the ballot.
Another would require that new oil and gas wells be at least 2,500 feet (750 meters) from occupied buildings and “vulnerable areas” such as parks, creeks and irrigation canals. It also allows local governments to require even bigger buffer zones.
Supporters of Proposition 112 say the stricter rules will better protect people and the environment.
Groups backed by the energy industry pointed to a state analysis that determined the measure would make 85 percent of non-federal land in Colorado off-limits to drilling.
Other ballot initiatives include two that would increase funding for transportation and highway projects, another to lower the age requirement to serve in the Legislature from 25 to 21 and one to clarify language in the state Constitution to ban slavery and involuntary servitude under all circumstances.
A similar slavery initiative failed in 2016. Supporters said then it was likely defeated because of confusing ballot language.