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Memphis voters turn down sales-tax referendum

Low turnout represents victory for skeptics of plan

For the second-straight year, voters crush a referendum for a half-cent sales tax increase to fund pre-K.

The initiative to increase Memphis sales tax by half a penny to fund Pre-K in schools did not pass on the ballot Thursday. It failed 60% to 40%.

Turnout for this special election was low. Robert Meyers, the Chairman of Shelby County Election Commission, says around 6% of the electorate came out to vote. Supporters say this is the best way to provide Pre-K to more Memphis children.

"There is no Plan B. There will be no universal Pre-K in Memphis for a very long time should this fail," said Memphis Councilman Jim Strickland.  "There is no other funding source out there."But some who are against this measure say there are other ways to improve education without raising taxes.

"The best alternative is to strengthen K-12 which is what we are required to do by state," said Kenneth Whalum. "The best thing of all would be for the City of Memphis to use the $57 million dollars that taxpayers already pay for Pre-K if that's so important to them."

Voters also came out to have their say for District 91 of the Tennessee House of Representatives race where Raumesh Akbari beat James "Jim" Tomasick, winning nearly 89 percent of the vote.

    本报讯   2013年11月21（星期四）进入公民投票阶段的提高销售税税率以资助孟菲斯地区学前教育（Pre-K）的提案被投票人否决。据初步统计，参与投票的选民约占整个选区人数的90%，在投票人中，有60%的人投了反对票。虽然通过有效的学前教育能够使整个城市的未来获益这一观点已达成共识，按照最初的预想，销售税税率在提高0.005%的情况下能够为地区增加4700万美元的税收，能够覆盖8000多个4岁及以上孩子的学前教育开支，但是选民担心与孟菲斯市政府有关联的学前教育委员会会滥用这笔资金。孟菲斯市的选民再次以89%的比例，否决了市议会提出的增加销售税半个百分点的议案，因此给8千个儿童提供免费学前班的计划也不再存在。这是连续第二年，孟菲斯市选民对这一议案说不。

    赞成这个增加销售税补贴学前班的人士认为，这个计划可以让孟菲斯的儿童获得更好的教育，减少未来的犯罪和未来的贫困人口，也给这个城市的未来更多的受过良好教育的工作者。

    反对这个议案的人认为，学前班及时幼儿托儿所，完全应该是家庭自己出钱解决的问题。而且研究报告显示，和参加过学前班的孩子相比，未参加过的这一项目的孩子，在幼儿园一年结束后两者的区别就没有了。

    前孟菲斯学区董事沃伦说，孟菲斯市议会的这个议案用词十分含糊，没有明确规定这些税收的用途，所以他不赞成糊里糊涂的增税。（阳光报道）。