April 19, 2004

WSJ on TABOR: "The Results Have Been Impressive"

Today's Wall Street Journal has an excellent editorial about the Taxpayers Bill of Rights concept, focusing on Colorado's experience. Here's the link, though you need to have a subscription to WSJ.com to access it. Here's an excerpt:

Spending discipline has a lot to do with how states fare when the nation's economy heads south. Anyone who doesn't think so probably hasn't been following California's budget nightmare. And that's why the current assault on Colorado's tax and expenditure limits has national implications.

Twelve years ago, voters in Colorado had the good sense to put constitutional restraints on government growth. The state's Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or Tabor, holds state spending to the annual growth in inflation and population, with a 6% limit over the previous year. Surplus revenues must be returned to taxpayers, and taxes can't be increased without voter approval.

The results have been impressive. Between 1995 and 2000, Colorado ranked first in gross state product growth and second in personal income growth. From 1997 to 2002, it led the country in tax reduction and issued annual rebates totaling more than $3 billion. No wonder a poll conducted last year found that 60% of Colorado voters support Tabor, while only 15% oppose it.