I realize not everyone is interested in this topic but it is perhaps the most crucial issue in the state of Colorado, with national and international implications. People everywhere are watching to see if we can operate a government under this thing, and it will stand as an example for grassroots action everywhere.
A short primer for those of you who don't live here and might not know what it's about:
A decade or so ago the people of Colorado, by referendum, passed a constitutional amendment known as the Taxpayer Bill Of Rights, or TABOR. The principle effect of TABOR was to limit the growth of state government spending. Specifically, state spending can not increase any more than the rate of population growth multiplied by the rate of inflation. The voters said, sensibly, Governmnent is plenty big enough. It will have to make do with what it's got. Also, under this amendment, tax rates cannot increase without a public vote, so if tax receipts decline as the economy declines then government spending will have to do likewise.
Altogether these are fairly mild limits on government growth but since governments everywhere are used to unfettered expansion any limit at all seems revolutionary.
Well, during the current recession Colorado state government suffered less than other states, because it wasn't allowed to grow as fast as the economy during the 90's. You'd think this was a good thing, but some people are absolutely livid that state spending had to be restricted at all. Talk about unintended cosequences, not only did TABOR rein in spending it also serves as a bellweather of public ethics. On one side, the folks who think state spending is the cure-all to every ill, and spending should be unrestricted, pitted against people who think government should usually be subjugated to the rights of the individual.
Taking the pro-government side is a newish think tank called The Bell Policy Center. they oppose TABOR and are trying amend the state constitution to allow faster spending growth. They issued a press release headlined 'BELL POLICY CENTER STUDY CONCLUDES THAT TAXPAYER'S BILL OF RIGHTS (TABOR) IS NOT WORKING FOR COLORADO,' which is quite the opposite of what many of us Coloradoans think. Some highlights of the press release:
Major flaws in Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) have seriously impaired the state's ability to set budget and program priorities and respond to crises, such as the current economic downturn, according to a study released today.
"TABOR is the most restrictive tax and spending limitation in the country, which has been eating away at vital programs and services and will make it much more difficult for the state to recover from the current budget crisis," said Carol Hedges, author of the TABOR study and director of the Fiscal Project at the nonprofit Bell Policy Center. "Some spending limits may be desirable and prudent, but TABOR has created a government hamstrung by inflexible rules that defy common sense and drive bad public policy."
Again, many think the opposite, that TABOR has saved the state a lot of grief during the downturn.
"The stated purpose of TABOR is to permanently limit the overall growth of government. But it hasn't just limited government's growth; it has shrunk it," Hedges said.
Government spending declined! Egad!
Growth in state government has not kept pace with economic growth...
The "ratcheting effect" of this growth limit continually downsizes government, making cuts virtually permanent. ...impossible to restore program cuts in good times.
TABOR contains a series of complex and often redundant provisions that greatly restrict budget-making flexibility, even within the overall limit on growth;
TABOR contains provisions that make it very difficult for the state to take advantage of surpluses in good times (e.g. create a Rainy Day Fund) to save for bad times.
This list is unblinkingly presented as entirely negative, as if there's just no way a reasonable person could want state spending to shrink, and no question that these programs are beneficial.
We've still got a long way to go to beat big government in Colorado.
Posted by Walter at October 19, 2003 08:27 PM