January 6, 2005

Tennessee NFIB Backs TABOR Amendment

The Tennessee branch of the National Federation of Independent Business has come out in favor of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights amendment proposed for the state constitution. I've been writing about TABOR for, oh, about a hundred years now, give or take a few, so it's nice to see the issue gaining prominence.

Ikard said NFIB is planning to lobby for a Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, which received overwhelming support from NFIB members responding to a poll last year. TABOR would establish limits on state spending and revenue growth, returning excesses to taxpayers and would require any permanent tax increase measure to be approved by a popular vote.

"Business owners have to live within their means, and it is reasonable to expect government to do the same," [NFIB/Tennessee State Director Rob] Ikard said. "TABOR addresses both sides of the fiscal equation – state spending and revenue growth. If spending growth were limited to the rate of inflation, emergency tax increases like the one in 2002 wouldn't be necessary."