Yes and no: voters appear to want it all without wanting to pay for it.

• Author: Bowser, Jennie Drage

Voters said yes to Republican candidates up and down the ballot on Nov. 2, but when it came to ballot measures seeking revenue increases the answer was a resounding no.

Economic worry was the overriding message from voters' verdict on the 160 statewide ballot measures. It was clear they are not willing to pay new taxes, though voters did give the OK to $1.2 billion in statewide bond measures out of a total of $1.9 billion on the ballot.

As if balancing state budgets isn't difficult enough in the current economic climate, voters passed a number of measures that will make the job even tougher in several statehouses. Voters approved tax cuts--except in Colorado and Massachusetts--but rejected every proposal to increase revenue. They made it more difficult for legislatures to pass tax increases and at the same time approved a handful of programs with high price tags and no way to fund them.

A MIXED BAG

There may have been fewer than usual citizen initiatives on ballots this year--42 compared to 59 two years ago and 76 in 2006--but that doesn't mean they won't make dramatic changes to state policy and fiscal situations.

Washington, which doesn't have an income tax, will find it harder than ever to balance the budget next year. Voters there rejected a new income tax on high wage-earners--$200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for joint filers--that could have raised as much as $11.2 billion over the next five years. The money would have offset new cuts in property, business and occupations taxes, and helped pay for health and education programs.

Voters in Washington approved Initiative 1053, which requires the Legislature to pass all tax increases by at least a two-thirds vote, rather than a simple majority. Voters previously approved the two-thirds requirement through a 2007 initiative, but lawmakers temporarily suspended it earlier this year to increase taxes on soda, candy, bottled water and certain processed foods. But the anti-tax mood felt across the country was especially potent in Washington, and voters repealed those tax increases on Election Day as well, cutting $352 million out of the state budget and $83 million from local governments over the next five years. That's a double-whammy for the Pacific Northwest state.

California, which already has the two-thirds requirement for tax increases, now must meet the same threshold to raise regulatory fees. In separate actions, Californians rejected $3.3 billion in potential revenue, including...