PHOENIX — Arizona voters have approved a temporary sales-tax increase designed to help the state avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in spending cuts to schools, health care and law enforcement.
With hundreds of thousands of early ballots counted and 49 percent of polling places reporting Tuesday evening, 64.2 percent were in favor of Proposition 100 while 35.8 percent voted against the measure.
The sales-tax increase will take effect June 1, raising the current state sales tax of 5.6 cents on the dollar to 6.6 cents for three years and raising a projected $918 million in the first year.
A defeat for Proposition 100 would have triggered $862 million of contingency spending cuts beyond those already included in the budget to cope with the state’s loss of 30 percent of its revenue. The measure could help determine the fate of Gov. Jan Brewer. Her advocacy of the tax increase has drawn 20 challengers so far in the Republican gubernatorial primary, set for August. The Associated Press
