Opponents of sales tax hike fight deadline to get enough signatures for November referendum

Opponents of the impending sales tax hike in Hamilton County are racing a Wednesday deadline to get enough signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot. Matt Wahlert said getting the required 27,500 signatures seemed impossible at first. "It seemed like a mountain that was going to be too high to climb, but the people have reacted positively,” Wahlert said. He’s trying to give Hamilton County voters the chance to say no to a 0.2 percent sales tax increase that county commissioners approved by a 2-1 vote. Right now, everything you buy in Hamilton County has a sales tax of 7 percent. Unless voters reject the increase, the sales tax would be go up to 7.2 percent until 2020. Then it would drop to 6.95 percent when the Union Terminal restoration tax expires.