This weekend Curt Woodward of the Associated Press had a story about polling that is being done by interest groups to identify taxes that the public might be willing to raise to help with the budget shortfall. You can read the story here.
Any tax increases proposed as part of the budget process are almost certain to be referred to voters through a referendum. Don’t expect a budget proposal to be rolled out by Senate Democrats (who get the first turn at a proposal this year), until after the March 19 revenue forecast. But with the “preview” forecast in February, the recent updates to state caseload estimates, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on Initiative 960 a number of the major moving parts have fallen into place.