Ninety-two percent of Swiss voters rejected replacing the value-added tax with a tax on energy, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Supported by the Green Party and organizations like Greenpeace, this measure would have encouraged people to switch to renewables like solar and wind, which would have been tax exempt.
The Swiss cabinet suggested voters reject the measure, fearing it would yield less revenues than the VAT, which provides nearly one third of all revenues for a budget that barely balances.
Les News Eco reports that the proposed measure would increase gas prices to five Swiss Francs a liter (roughly $19 per gallon), which explain the massive rejection both in French and German Cantons — 33 communes even voted 100 percent against the measure, the worst performance for a popular referendum since 1929.
Green Party Vice President Laurent Seydoux says that the statement about gas prices was a lie and sunk his campaign, Swiss Info reports.