Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
TABOR Survives in Colorado
By Mary Lazich
Friday, Nov 14 2008, 01:39 PM
There was some good news from last week’s elections for fiscal conservatives. Voters in Colorado, the architect of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), rejected another effort to weaken protection for taxpayers. The Colorado ballot included Amendment 59, considered by TABOR supporters to have been the most serious attack against the concept.
TABOR was approved as an amendment to the state constitution in Colorado during 1992. Government spending was capped at the previous year’s total multiplied by the rate of inflation plus annual population growth. The beauty of TABOR is that voters need to approve any hikes in tax rates or in state or local debt. Revenues that go beyond the spending caps must be returned to taxpayers through tax reductions.
TABOR was a godsend to taxpayers. Between 1997 and 2002, the state of Colorado issued tax rebates totaling more than $3.2 billion. Colorado was the envy of tax relief proponents and saw its economy take off. TABOR’s opponents have stubbornly tried numerous times to circumvent the measure by supporting tax and spending increases. Referendum C was adopted during 2005 that suspended revenue limits in Colorado for five years. Revenues that have exceeded the TABOR limits are now funding government in Colorado, not tax relief. Revenue limits return in 2010. The latest attempt to water down TABOR was Amendment 59 on the Colorado ballot November 4.
Amendment 59 would have eliminated rebates that taxpayers receive when Colorado collected more money than it is allowed, and spent the money on preschool through 12th (grade (P-12) public education. The amendment also would have eliminated a required inflationary increase for P-12 education spending and would have set aside money in a new savings account for P-12 education.
Opponents of Amendment 59 called it a permanent tax increase, arguing that a requirement to donate a tax rebate to government programs is a net tax increase.
Amendment 59, its opponents claimed, would have freed up general funds currently spent on education, allowing elected officials to spend more taxpayer money on their pet projects. They also emphasized that the amendment would gut the goal of TABOR: Shrinking the role of government in the state’s economy. The fear was that Colorado would return to the days of double-digit spending increases, making balancing the state budget more difficult. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it, Wisconsin?
Amendment 59 was rejected by 55% of Colorado voters and the consensus is that once the suspension on revenue limits is lifted during 2010, Colorado will once again enjoy economic growth.
Under the current political landscape, Wisconsin’s prospects for approving TABOR are next to impossible. I support TABOR, and voted for tough spending limits when the Legislature took up the measure during 2006.
Colorado’s defeat of Amendment 59 signals a return of TABOR to the state that successfully pioneered the idea. TABOR’s reputation and credibility will rebound, and hopefully serve as the stimulus for another proposal here in Wisconsin.
