In 1992, Colorado voters approved known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR). The measure added provisions to the state constitution that made it difficult to raise taxes under any circumstances and strictly limited state government’s ability to increase spending beyond the rate of inflation. If Colorado ran a surplus, it had to automatically take the form of a refund to state residents.
At the time, Coloradoans thought it sounded great. It was, of course, a disaster.
TABOR has completely warped Colorado politics ever since. One of the original supporters was a little-known state representative from Aurora named Bill Owens. Six years later, Owens was elected to be Colorado’s first Republican governor in 24 years. It wasn’t long before national Republicans began to notice. National Review named him “America’s Best Governor” in 2002 and admiringly listed his government-cutting bona fides. Anti-tax advocates began touting TABOR as a national model and Owens as a potential presidential candidate for 2008.
But while Colorado has been terrific for TABOR, TABOR has been a nightmare for Colorado, and for Colorado Republicans in particular. The state budget was fine as long as the state’s economy was growing, and bills could be pushed into the following year. Once things slowed down, retrenchment became a serious business just as health care and education expenses began to shoot upwards. Thanks to TABOR, the state can’t increase its spending on roads and other expenditures it’s been putting off.
Owens quickly joined Dem lawmakers in asking state voters to undo at least part of what they had done. TABOR had crippled state government and Owens knew it. It was Grover Norquist’s drown-it-in-the-bathtub vision brought to life. (Indeed, Norquist played a key role in shaping the ’92 referendum.)
Politically, it was a long shot asking voters to undo a measure that passed because it was an “anti-tax” initiative. Coloradoans went to the polls yesterday, and lo and behold, did the right thing.
Colorado voters on Tuesday agreed to give up $3.7 billion in tax refunds over the next five years in a historic move to ease the nation’s strictest limit on state spending. Fifty-three percent of voters supported Referendum C….
Referendum C passed the legislature with the bulk of its support from Democrats, led by state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver.
“I think there are two messages,” Romanoff said. “One is that bipartisanship works. People want to see Democrats and Republicans working together. And, two, the economy matters. People want to invest in the economy, health care, roads and bridges. They want to bring good jobs to this state.”
Referendum C suspends a provision of the state constitution’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to let the state keep an estimated $3.7 billion in revenue that would otherwise be returned to taxpayers over the next five years.
Nonpartisan state budget officials estimated most taxpayers will be giving up an average of $491 over five years. The state will use it for roads, schools, health care and pensions.
Kudos to the 53% of Colorado voters who had the good sense to want to invest in their future. Under the ’92 TABOR, state’s low-income children who lack health insurance skyrocketed; high school graduation rates fell; teacher salaries fell to the lowest rates in the nation; Colorado hemorrhaged tens of thousands of jobs; all-day kindergarten in low-performing schools and pre-school was eliminated, and Medicaid hospital reimbursement, state support to local and regional health agencies, and mental health funding were all cut.
Norquist and his cohorts looked at Colorado as a model for the nation. Yesterday’s vote should set them back a while.
“My confidence in the voting public has been re-established,” said state Sen. Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood, “because they recognize the needs for the services that government provides.”
I love a happy ending.