State Budget Scrutiny Reveals Ref C Shuffle
Two years ago, lawmakers asked for a “timeout” from the spending restrictions of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) in order to allow the state budget to rebound from the recession of 2001-2002. Referendum C, approved by a narrow 52 percent to 48 percent margin, erased the tABOR spending limits for five years and permanently increased the spending caps thereafter. Voters were assured by Ref C proponents that K-12 education, colleges and universities, and health care would split the lion’s share of the resources if the measure passed. But a funny thing happened after Ref C passed. Spending on programs that rarely were identified with Ref C has grown at more than twice the rate of spending on education and health care. Now, some of the key players in convincing voters to pass Ref C are dissatisfied, and voters have cause to believe they were sold a bill of goods.
Poll Shows Little Support to Weaken TABOR or Raise Taxes
The results of a new poll commissioned by the Independence Institute and the Colorado Club for Growth shows a lack of voter support for modifying Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) or seeking a TABOR override (known as De Brucing).
According to a scientific survey by the nationally-recognized polling firm TelOpinion Research, only 33 percent of likely Colorado voters who voted in the most recent election approve reducing their TABOR tax refunds or removing the so-call ratchet mechanism…
More than half (52%) of the survey’s 600 respondents altogether opposed weakening TABOR or giving up $500 million in tax surplus refunds. Only 33% are in favor of a proposal.
Amendment 23: A Critique
The question asked in Amendment 23 is a very simple one: should the state raise taxes $11 billion? That is not, of course, how the proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution is presented by the teachers’ unions, but that is in fact what they are asking Colorado citizens to do. Since the teachers unions have obfuscated the issue, it is important to begin by showing how the proposed amendment would create this $11 billion fund which would mostly benefit the teachers’ union.
