News is starting to flash about the proposed Constitutional Amendment – House Joint Resolution 48 (HJR-48) proposed in the state legislature this year by Rep. Carl Bearden. It has stalled in the legislature for now. The group in Missouri pushing the nationwide movement is going by the name Missourians In Charge. However, they are not, for the most part, really Missourians. The group is from Illinois and they are really known as Americans for Limited Government, according to the May 2 Editorial in the Springfield News-Leader. They simply set up shop in Missouri and found locals to help them.
We have several names for the same Amendments all trying to do the same thing. I will do my best to sort this all out and help you understand, in a very simplified manner, what this initiative is and how it will affect our state, based in part on how it has affected Colorado.
THE NAME
This initiative started in Colorado 14 years ago and is known nationally as the Taxpayers Bill Of Rights, TABOR, (pronounced Tay-Ber). In order to further complicate matters, the interest groups have changed the name. It is known as TABOR across the nation, and that is the term I will use. However, if Missourians In Charge is successful, then the issue on the ballot will probably be called Amendment 14.
Real Name: TABOR (Tax Payers Bill Of Rights)
Known Alias: Missouri House Joint Resolution 48 (HJR 48)
Known Alias: People In Charge Amendment
Known Alias: Amendment 14
WHAT IS TABOR?
TABOR is a Constitutional Amendment. That means that we have to change our Missouri Constitution in order to put TABOR into effect. A Constitutional Amendment is permanent, and can only be amended or changed with a vote of the people, which is very costly.
TABOR is a restrictive tax and spending lid. There are different kinds of tax and spending lids and TABOR is the most restrictive of its kind. One other such lid is already active in Missouri and is known as the Handcock Amendment. TABOR uses a formula based on the state’s previous year’s spending and also includes of inflation and population known as the Consumer Price Index.
HOW DOES TABOR WORK?
TABOR is based on the state’s previous year’s spending amount, then the tax and spending lids are put in place from that point. In years of budget crisis or a nationwide economic downturn, such as happened in the past couple of years, the state has to buckle down and cut the budget.
With TABOR, those new budget cuts become permanent from that point on. There is never a return to a budget when the economic times are good, unless the people get enough signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to overturn TABOR or suspend it, which is what happened in Colorado in 2005.
If the state has multiple years of bad economic times, requiring more budget cuts, then those new budget cuts become the new spending lid for the state. This is known as ratcheting. Even if the ratcheting effect is tweaked, the basic formula is still in place.
HOW WILL IT AFFECT MISSOURI?
The Missouri Budget Project analyzed the impact of TABOR on Missouri and those findings are as follows:
If Missouri had passed TABOR in 2005, then Gov. Matt Blunt’s Budget Recommendations for FY 2007 would be “$156 million too heavy.” That means that the budget that our fiscally conservative Governor feels would be the right budget for Missouri would have to be cut by $156 million.
Gov. Blunt’s increases to public education would have been dumped. The new funding formula for public education, expected to increase this year by $130 million, would be at risk. Most likely, the Governor’s proposed 2 percent increase for higher education (colleges and universities) would have to be cut.
The Missouri Budget Project also looked at the long term affects of TABOR. The MBP projected that if TABOR had passed in 1992, when Colorado enacted it, Missouri would be “required to cut $792 million more in the current fiscal year (FY 2006).”
This has long-standing and far-reaching ramifications affecting the budgets of city, county and state services. It would affect public education, fire and police departments, higher education, social services, conservation, transportation, and other state government services vital to the business and economical viability of the state.
According to the MBP, the burden of the budget cuts to basic services would fall to the local communities, creating higher property taxes, as well as increased fees for licenses, permits, tolls and even education. These cuts would affect the maintenance of buildings and roads, affecting our local business economy.
WHAT HAPPENED IN COLORADO?
In 1992, the voters in Colorado passed TABOR. The Missouri Budget Project and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have cited some statistics on the effects of TABOR:
WHAT DO SOME COLORADO LEADERS SAY?
The Missouri Budget Project collected some quotes from reputable community members in Colorado regarding TABOR and it’s effects.
MY VIEW:
Missouri already has a working tax and spending lid called the Handcock Amendment. It limits the amount of revenue that the state can take in. It works, as Missouri’s citizens received a check back a few years ago. Handcock gave money back to the tax ayers when the state took in too much revenue. There really isn’t any reason to enact another one.
The evidence on the destructive nature of TABOR on city, county, and state services is overwhelming. Report after report have shown that services such as roads and bridge maintenance, police and fire departments, public schools, colleges and universities, services to persons with disabilities, services to the elderly, services to the poor, corrections services, and troubled youth services have experienced crippling cuts in budgets, including heavy lay-offs and services not being rendered.
Last year, our legislators passed large cuts to Medicaid. Legislator after legislator stated that no one would really be hurt. In fact Rep. Jim Viebrock from Republic wrote in an email to constituents that the opposition was really a liberal media lie and no one who really needed services would see any cuts. This year, we have several bills on the table to reinstate some of those services. People really were hurt and our legislators are realizing that now. Those cuts to Medicaid were mild, nearly non-existent, compared to the far-reaching effects of TABOR.
The real push for TABOR is that it wipes away the responsibility on our legislature. If we enact TABOR, then the legislature can throw up their hands and say they can’t do anything about it. We elect our legislators to look at our budget, based on the state’s economic status and make decision on what programs should be funded. What are legislators for if not to look out for our state’s best interests? If we enact TABOR, then those responsibilities are shifted to a static funding formula. No longer will people decide what happens in our. An arbitrary formula will do that for us.
This TABOR initiative was introduced in the legislature this year. But nothing has come of it. Legislators do not want to be responsible for that. So they stalled it so this out-of-state group could come in and try to convince the taxpayers to vote for it. Unfortunately, there information being given by the pro-TABOR lobby paints a very limited and confusing picture of TABOR.
TABOR is a Constitutional Amendment. It is a very difficult thing to repeal, as it takes a vote of the people, and again makes changes to the Missouri Constitution. Why do we TABOR when we have Handcock and elected officials to make decisions for us? We should insist that people, not formulas, make our decisions for our state. When those legislators make mistakes, then we can vote for someone else in the next election. When the TABOR funding formula makes a mistake, then we have to change our Constitution.
If the Republican Governor in 2005, legislators from both parties, many Chambers of Commerce and other business leaders all join the effort to repeal TABOR in Colorado, then Missourians should be skeptical.
If our fiscally conservative Governor Blunt’s recommended budget for FY 2007 is $156 million (had TABOR been enacted last year) then this clearly shows that TABOR is not a conservative or liberal idea. It is an extremist, anti-government movement.
Be it TABOR or Amendment 14 or People in Charge Amendment, Colorado has seen its critical services strangled. But the extremists are working hard in several other states, including Missouri, to get this passed nationwide. TABOR is bad for any state, including Missouri.
RESOURCES ON TABOR:
General Info
Missouri House of Representative: HJR 48
Stateline.org
Economic Policy Institute
Anti-TABOR
Missouri Budget Project
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Center for American Progress
News-Leader Opinion on TABOR
OMB Watch
Pro-TABOR
Missourians in Charge
The Heritage Foundation
The CATO Institute
We have several names for the same Amendments all trying to do the same thing. I will do my best to sort this all out and help you understand, in a very simplified manner, what this initiative is and how it will affect our state, based in part on how it has affected Colorado.
THE NAME
This initiative started in Colorado 14 years ago and is known nationally as the Taxpayers Bill Of Rights, TABOR, (pronounced Tay-Ber). In order to further complicate matters, the interest groups have changed the name. It is known as TABOR across the nation, and that is the term I will use. However, if Missourians In Charge is successful, then the issue on the ballot will probably be called Amendment 14.
Real Name: TABOR (Tax Payers Bill Of Rights)
Known Alias: Missouri House Joint Resolution 48 (HJR 48)
Known Alias: People In Charge Amendment
Known Alias: Amendment 14
WHAT IS TABOR?
TABOR is a Constitutional Amendment. That means that we have to change our Missouri Constitution in order to put TABOR into effect. A Constitutional Amendment is permanent, and can only be amended or changed with a vote of the people, which is very costly.
TABOR is a restrictive tax and spending lid. There are different kinds of tax and spending lids and TABOR is the most restrictive of its kind. One other such lid is already active in Missouri and is known as the Handcock Amendment. TABOR uses a formula based on the state’s previous year’s spending and also includes of inflation and population known as the Consumer Price Index.
HOW DOES TABOR WORK?
TABOR is based on the state’s previous year’s spending amount, then the tax and spending lids are put in place from that point. In years of budget crisis or a nationwide economic downturn, such as happened in the past couple of years, the state has to buckle down and cut the budget.
With TABOR, those new budget cuts become permanent from that point on. There is never a return to a budget when the economic times are good, unless the people get enough signatures to get a referendum on the ballot to overturn TABOR or suspend it, which is what happened in Colorado in 2005.
If the state has multiple years of bad economic times, requiring more budget cuts, then those new budget cuts become the new spending lid for the state. This is known as ratcheting. Even if the ratcheting effect is tweaked, the basic formula is still in place.
HOW WILL IT AFFECT MISSOURI?
The Missouri Budget Project analyzed the impact of TABOR on Missouri and those findings are as follows:
If Missouri had passed TABOR in 2005, then Gov. Matt Blunt’s Budget Recommendations for FY 2007 would be “$156 million too heavy.” That means that the budget that our fiscally conservative Governor feels would be the right budget for Missouri would have to be cut by $156 million.
Gov. Blunt’s increases to public education would have been dumped. The new funding formula for public education, expected to increase this year by $130 million, would be at risk. Most likely, the Governor’s proposed 2 percent increase for higher education (colleges and universities) would have to be cut.
The Missouri Budget Project also looked at the long term affects of TABOR. The MBP projected that if TABOR had passed in 1992, when Colorado enacted it, Missouri would be “required to cut $792 million more in the current fiscal year (FY 2006).”
This has long-standing and far-reaching ramifications affecting the budgets of city, county and state services. It would affect public education, fire and police departments, higher education, social services, conservation, transportation, and other state government services vital to the business and economical viability of the state.
According to the MBP, the burden of the budget cuts to basic services would fall to the local communities, creating higher property taxes, as well as increased fees for licenses, permits, tolls and even education. These cuts would affect the maintenance of buildings and roads, affecting our local business economy.
WHAT HAPPENED IN COLORADO?
In 1992, the voters in Colorado passed TABOR. The Missouri Budget Project and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have cited some statistics on the effects of TABOR:
- In 2001, nine years after Colorado enacted TABOR, the K-12 funding per pupil dropped to $809 below the national average.
- The average student-teacher ratio rose, ranking Colorado 41st in the nation.
- Colorado teacher pay fell to seven percent below the national average.
- The rate of high school graduates fell from 76 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2004.
- Higher education funding per resident student dropped 31 percent.
- From 2002-2005, universities increased tuition by 21 percent to make up for budget cuts.
- From 1992-2004, the number of uninsured children went from 16 percent to 32 percent.
- Colorado ranks 50th in the nation for on-time immunizations.
- Mental health services were eliminated in youth corrections.
- The case loads of probation officers rose from 130 to 238 cases per officer.
WHAT DO SOME COLORADO LEADERS SAY?
The Missouri Budget Project collected some quotes from reputable community members in Colorado regarding TABOR and it’s effects.
Republican Brad Young, former Colorado state representative
“The (TABOR) formula … has an insidious effect where it shrinks government every year, year after year, after year; it’s never small enough…. …That is not the best way to form public policy.”
Michael Carrigan, Unviersity of Colorado Regent
“When TABOR was enacted, roughly 25 percent of the state budget went to funding higher education; it is now under 10 percent…. Without TABOR reform there is only one result – the end of state funding for higher education by the end of the decade.
Neil Westergaard, Editor of the Denver Business Journal
“Face it, business leaders have done a sober, businesslike assessment of where Douglas Bruce’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) has left Colorado – and they don’t like what they see. They’ve figured out that no business would survive if it were run like the TABOR faithful say Colorado should be run – with withering tax support for college and universities, under funded public schools and a future of crumbling roads and bridges.”
Rocky Scott, President, Colorado Springs Economic Development Corporation
“The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, with some positive attributes, is about tightly controlling, actually strangling, Colorado’s income statement, it’s income and expenses. Spending on prisons, medical care for the elderly, and K-12 education increases faster than inflation, forcing all other public needs to suffer. But while the unrealistically simplistic TABOR strategy is being executed, by constitutional edict, the decay of Colorado’s balance sheet, its net worth, representing the publicly owned capital stock that provides the foundation for economic activity, is unprecedented. It will, if unchecked, eventually lead to economic decay.
MY VIEW:
Missouri already has a working tax and spending lid called the Handcock Amendment. It limits the amount of revenue that the state can take in. It works, as Missouri’s citizens received a check back a few years ago. Handcock gave money back to the tax ayers when the state took in too much revenue. There really isn’t any reason to enact another one.
The evidence on the destructive nature of TABOR on city, county, and state services is overwhelming. Report after report have shown that services such as roads and bridge maintenance, police and fire departments, public schools, colleges and universities, services to persons with disabilities, services to the elderly, services to the poor, corrections services, and troubled youth services have experienced crippling cuts in budgets, including heavy lay-offs and services not being rendered.
Last year, our legislators passed large cuts to Medicaid. Legislator after legislator stated that no one would really be hurt. In fact Rep. Jim Viebrock from Republic wrote in an email to constituents that the opposition was really a liberal media lie and no one who really needed services would see any cuts. This year, we have several bills on the table to reinstate some of those services. People really were hurt and our legislators are realizing that now. Those cuts to Medicaid were mild, nearly non-existent, compared to the far-reaching effects of TABOR.
The real push for TABOR is that it wipes away the responsibility on our legislature. If we enact TABOR, then the legislature can throw up their hands and say they can’t do anything about it. We elect our legislators to look at our budget, based on the state’s economic status and make decision on what programs should be funded. What are legislators for if not to look out for our state’s best interests? If we enact TABOR, then those responsibilities are shifted to a static funding formula. No longer will people decide what happens in our. An arbitrary formula will do that for us.
This TABOR initiative was introduced in the legislature this year. But nothing has come of it. Legislators do not want to be responsible for that. So they stalled it so this out-of-state group could come in and try to convince the taxpayers to vote for it. Unfortunately, there information being given by the pro-TABOR lobby paints a very limited and confusing picture of TABOR.
TABOR is a Constitutional Amendment. It is a very difficult thing to repeal, as it takes a vote of the people, and again makes changes to the Missouri Constitution. Why do we TABOR when we have Handcock and elected officials to make decisions for us? We should insist that people, not formulas, make our decisions for our state. When those legislators make mistakes, then we can vote for someone else in the next election. When the TABOR funding formula makes a mistake, then we have to change our Constitution.
If the Republican Governor in 2005, legislators from both parties, many Chambers of Commerce and other business leaders all join the effort to repeal TABOR in Colorado, then Missourians should be skeptical.
If our fiscally conservative Governor Blunt’s recommended budget for FY 2007 is $156 million (had TABOR been enacted last year) then this clearly shows that TABOR is not a conservative or liberal idea. It is an extremist, anti-government movement.
Be it TABOR or Amendment 14 or People in Charge Amendment, Colorado has seen its critical services strangled. But the extremists are working hard in several other states, including Missouri, to get this passed nationwide. TABOR is bad for any state, including Missouri.
RESOURCES ON TABOR:
General Info
Missouri House of Representative: HJR 48
Stateline.org
Economic Policy Institute
Anti-TABOR
Missouri Budget Project
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Center for American Progress
News-Leader Opinion on TABOR
OMB Watch
Pro-TABOR
Missourians in Charge
The Heritage Foundation
The CATO Institute
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1 comment:
That was a great job of explaining what TABOR is and how it affects a state. That is information that I did not have. Good Job.
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