Olympia Voters Reject Income Tax Measure

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Voters in Olympia have rejected an income tax on the city's highest earners.

Initiative 1 sought a 1.5 percent tax on household income in excess of $200,000 for residents of Olympia, a city of about 50,000 people. The measure sought to raise an estimated $3 million a year for a public college tuition fund that would give all Olympia public high school graduates and GED recipients tuition for at least the first year of community or technical college, or the equivalent amount — about $4,000 — for in-state public university tuition.

About 54 percent of the city's voters rejected the measure.