TABOR – Bad for Families, Bad for Business, Bad for States
By Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU

As dozens of states begin to consider gimmicks like TABOR – the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights – it is instructive to take a careful look at the Colorado experience where the policy wreaked economic havoc for thirteen years, until voters finally put a stop to it last fall.

Added to the Colorado state constitution in 1992, TABOR created an economic crisis in the state because it established a spending cap that restricted budget growth. A formula based on population growth and inflation determined the cap. TABOR systematically undermined economic development and forced cuts in health care, education, services for children and senior citizen services, as well as the maintenance for basic infrastructure.

The somber statistics spoke for themselves. Thanks to TABOR, Colorado ranked last in the country in the number of child vaccinations and the number of low-income children without health insurance. The picture for education was similarly bleak. The state plummeted to second to last in K-12 spending, meanwhile in-state tuition for Colorado colleges and universities went up by 21 percent.

This dramatic decline in the state’s economic infrastructure was devastating for business, prompting business leaders to join the fight to suspend TABOR. If the voters had not stepped in to stop its destructive effects, the problems would have continued to get worse. Within the next decade, TABOR would have forced the state to end funding for higher education, causing community colleges to close and public university tuition to soar out of reach for many Colorado families.

From Colorado’s TABOR debacle comes an important lesson, voters want their state government to invest in the priorities that benefit their families, businesses and communities. This means improving the services everyone depends on, like educational facilities for children, health care for the elderly, and infrastructure needs such as highways, roads, and bridges.

Incredibly, despite clear proof of TABOR’s failure, some state legislatures have already introduced similar policies (at times under a different name). Our hope is that after learning more about the Colorado experience, most state legislators will reject any policy like TABOR that would cripple its ability to provide critical services. Americans cannot afford the inevitable consequences.