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PHOENIX — A measure that would make it harder for voters to raise taxes or mandate government spending is "misleading," Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.

Proposition 105 would require an absolute majority of all registered voters — not just those who go to the polls — to approve any voter-initiated measure that raises taxes.

The governor said the plan, dubbed "Majority Rules," really is the opposite.

"They've named it very benignly," Napolitano said. "But one practical application is it allows really an effective minority to control the public-policy agenda."

But Jason LeVecke, the fast-food franchise owner who is bankrolling much of the campaign, said it is Napolitano who is being dishonest, contending the governor is trying to preserve a system that allows a minority of Arizonans to raise the taxes on everyone else.

If the measure had been in effect two years ago, there would not have been an increase of 80 cents a pack on cigarettes to fund various programs for early-childhood development. While the tax increase was approved by more than 53 percent of those who voted that year, the votes in favor amounted to less than 31 percent of those who were registered. Arizona currently has more than 2.7 million registered voters.

LeVecke, in a prepared statement, said he fears future efforts to increase taxes at the polls, especially now with the state facing a deficit.

As a practical matter, the only real way to raise taxes now is with voter approval. Existing constitutional requirements for a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate for any increase in state revenues have prevented any legislative tax boost since its adoption in 1992.

Napolitano said the measure makes no sense.

"The way it works is that if somebody stays home and doesn't even take the effort to vote, their vote counts because they're effectively a 'no' vote," she said. "That's not fair. The vote should be the majority of those who take the trouble to vote."