January 28, 2005

Hey Phil! Coloradans Don't Think TABOR Is A Disaster

For more than a year now, the Denver Post and a liberal Colorado think tank have been beating on that state's Taxpayers Bill of Rights, blaming it for all manner of fiscal ills and woes. So... what do the people of Colorado think about the amendment, which they voted into the state constitution more than a decade ago? Read the Jan. 18 news release from the Independence Institute regarding a public opinion survey on that very question.

Poll Shows Little Support to Weaken TABOR or Raise Taxes
GOLDEN, Colo. – The results of a new poll commissioned by the Independence Institute and the Colorado Club for Growth shows a lack of voter support for modifying Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) or seeking a TABOR override (known as De-Brucing).

According to a scientific survey by the nationally-recognized polling firm TelOpinion Research, only 33 percent of likely Colorado voters who voted in the most recent election approve reducing their TABOR tax refunds or removing the so-call ratchet mechanism.

More than half (52%) of the survey's 600 respondents altogether opposed weakening TABOR or giving up $500 million in tax surplus refunds. Only 33% are in favor of a proposal that would allow state government to keep more tax revenue. The results refute recent claims of Coloradans' sagging support for TABOR.

"This just goes to show what we've already known," said Independence Institute President Jon Caldara. "Despite the best efforts of Colorado's spending lobby to blame TABOR for everything from the state's budget shortages to causing baldness in lab rats, most Colorado taxpayers are happy with TABOR the way it is."

"Voters realize that Colorado's budget situation is not a revenue problem, it is a spending problem. Legislators must deal with the strong likelihood that voters will reject a tax increase. It would be wiser for them instead to spend their limited time working on finding efficiencies and productivity inside government to address any budget shortfall."

"The legislature should focus on re-inventing the way the state does business to encourage cost savings without large reductions in governmental service" Caldara said, citing Performance Based Budgeting, competitive contacting, procurement reform, and sentencing reform as methods to increase governmental output.

"While legislators expect more from taxpayers, it is clear that Coloradans expect more from government," Caldara said. "The taxpayers want to keep TABOR in place to keep their elected officials in line."

To know that Bredesen is utterly wrong and uninformed about Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights, all you have to do is read this.