January 29, 2004

Let the People Decide

A county commissioner in Wilson County, one of Nashville's fastest-growing suburban counties, wants state law changed so the county can allow the people to vote on proposed property tax increases. Details here from today's Tennessean.

Colorado voted in a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, also known as TABOR, as a state in 1992. Supporters say it helped increase personal income and the gross state product. Critics, however, have said that in its wake public services are poor and funding shortfalls exist for education.

The Tennessean doesn't tell you - perhaps because they haven't done the research - that, since TABOR went into effect in 1993, there have been 459 local referenda on supluses, and voters have voted 406 times to allow their local government to keep and spend the surplus - an 88.5 percent pass rate.

The Tennessean doesn't tell you - perhaps because they haven't done the research - that, since TABOR went into effect in 1993, there have been 289 local referenda on increasing the public debt, and voters have voted 96 times to allow their local government to issue new bonds and increase the public debt - a 67.8 percent pass rate.

The Tennessean doesn't tell you - perhaps because they haven't done the research - that, since TABOR went into effect in 1993, there have been 413 local referenda on raising taxes, and voters have voted 224 times to allow their local government to raise taxes - a 54.2 percent pass rate.

How come I know this and the Tennessean doesn't? Because I did actual journalism. I contacted the Colorado Municipal League and asked if they had such data. Sure enough, they did, and research associate Emma Arguelles sent me several files listing the details of each local TABOR referendum, and the results, like this file listing all the local elections on proposed new taxes and tax rate increases, plus one on debt increases and one on surpluses.

Then I wrote about it in this white paper.

The Tennessean also mentions that "supporters" of TABOR in Colorado credit it with increases in personal income and the size of the state's economy. They didn't have to source that to "supporters." Again - it is possible to do actual journalism and find out. I did. It turns out that, since the Taxpayers Bill of Rights amendment went into effect in Colorado in 1993, Colorado's economy has far out-performed Tennessee's by most any useful economic measure.

It's not just "supporters" who say the Taxpayers Bill of Rights has helped grow Coloradan's personal income and the state's economy - it's the economic data.

What's happening in Wilson County is part of a larger statewide grassroots movement to bring the Taxpayers Bill of Rights concept to Tennessee both at the local level and also at the state level, where state Sen. Jim Bryson has proposed a good Taxpayers Bill of Rights amendment to the state constitution. As this grassroots movement gains steam - it's already passed a local TABOR in Spring Hill - you can expect the pro-higher-taxes Tennessean to attack TABOR by reporting second-hand what "critics" say about it. Don't believe what the "critics" say and certainly don't rely on second-hand newspaper reports to form your view of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.

Editor's note: The election results data cited above differs from that in the white paper I linked to above, for the simple reason that I wrote the paper a year ago, and just got updated numbers from the Colorado Municipal League in the last week or so. I plan to rewrite the paper with updated numbers and economic data in the weeks ahead and will let you know when that is finished and posted.