TABOR: A Hindrance to the Colorado Budget

The United States was formed around of a few, central ideologies which our way of life today would not be possible without. One of which is taxation without representation, which arguably is why Americans first rebelled against Great Britain. This value is one that is central to our nation, so it will never change. However, the interpretation of this ideology has been taken too far in the state of Colorado with the bill known as TABOR.

TABOR, or the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and it was founded by Colorado Springs Republican, Douglas Bruce. According to the Colorado budget’s webpage, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights has a few main functions: “[Colorado] require[s] a public vote on all tax increases and new government debt”, as well as limiting “the amount of tax revenue raised by state and local governments in Colorado; year-to-year increases in revenue amid economic growth may not exceed the combined rates of population growth and inflation.” Simply put, taxes cannot be raised in Colorado unless the taxpayers vote to raise their own taxes. On the Colorado budget website, they described TABOR’s main function as: “limiting government’s growth and giving voters veto power over tax hikes and bonded debt.” As a taxpayer, this bill sounds like a better way to handle taxes, but just below the surface, is TABOR the best allocation of resources for Colorado?

Democratic Colorado Governor Bill Ritter told the Denver Post that TABOR is “the most backward-thinking ballot measures this state has ever seen." TABOR is under scrutiny because it takes the power to change taxes away from the government, thus, government funded programs will lose funding. Ritter said that TABOR would lead to the: “shut down colleges and prisons, increase class sizes, put thousands of teachers out of work and prevent the repair of unsafe roads and bridges. If these measures pass, the state could never again support building another public school, library or rec center." He argues that since taxpayers will not raise their own taxes, Colorado will not create enough revenue to fund the basic needs to the state’s citizens. Denver Post Columnist, Glenn Hendricks, brings up the point that “Serious conversations around a 4-day school week are occurring in many of our districts.” On the other hand, Colorado Republican Dan Maes states that he sees the: “Tax cuts as part of our overall strategy for the future after we cut the size of government and increase revenues via energy and small-business success first.” However, not all republicans agree with Mae’s argument. Republican, Scott McInnis, opposes this bill for similar reasons to Governor Ritter. Getting away from the politics, the numbers show that tax revenue (altered for inflation and population change) has dropped significantly. In 2002, there was a revenue shortfall of 15 percent, just ten years after TABOR was originally passed. Is a 15 percent deficit that big of a deal? Well, as already discussed, TABOR could “[hinder] government’s ability to deliver basic services over the long run.” What has not been discussed is the larger problem at hand: the Colorado budget deficit.

Currently, the Colorado budget deficit is estimated to be at 1.5 billion dollars. Although Governor Ritter has been attempting to close this gap by passing budget cuts around 3.2 million dollars, it is still estimated that the budget will be short half of a billion dollars in 2011. Future budget deficits will lead to more cuts from public services.

If Colorado wants to become a stronger state economically, the legislators must not cut funding from schools or libraries. This is because these public goods allow the citizens to increase their “human capital” which will make them more efficient/valuable workers to the economy. Therefore, a better option for the state of Colorado would be to give back the power of taxation to the government, so funding to public goods does not need to be cut too far. Although, some might argue that TABOR allows taxpayers more “representation”, but I would remind them that the founding fathers gave the power to tax to the government, and this was put into our country’s constitution.