Talking Points on Colorado TABOR

• TABOR has become a handy scapegoat for Colorado’s supposed budget woes, despite what the facts actually show. Without TABOR Colorado would be a fiscal disaster similar to what is happening in California. In fact without the much maligned ratchet effect Colorado’s fiscal situation would be far worse than what it is now. Ten years before TABOR the government grew at more than twice the rate of population increases and inflation. Without the TABOR constraint the State would have probably spent all those revenues.

• TABOR has become a handy scapegoat for Colorado’s supposed budget woes, despite what the facts actually show. Without TABOR Colorado would be a fiscal disaster similar to what is happening in California. In fact without the much maligned ratchet effect Colorado’s fiscal situation would be far worse than what it is now. Ten years before TABOR the government grew at more than twice the rate of population increases and inflation. Without the TABOR constraint the State would have probably spent all those revenues. Without the TABOR constraints Colorado’s budget would have been much larger and therefore when the recession hit the fall would have been more painful.

• Many Republicans, as recently as the 2004 election season, insisted that there would be no compromise on TABOR, without any compromises on Amendment 23. Some of those same Republicans now appear all too willing to tear apart TABOR with nary a comment on Amendment 23.

• Of course, as self-interested politicians, even Republicans can fall prey to special interest groups, eager to grab their piece of the pie and damn the taxpayers who will be forced to fund these pork barrel projects.

• Democrats want to convince hard working taxpayers that the politicians should be allowed to keep ever increasing amounts of their money in order to “invest” it for you on “services.” Translation? Politicians want to spend, spend, spend your money. They don’t think they should be required to spend wisely like you and your family do when it comes to finances.

• The bureaucrats at the state capitol don’t want to admit that taxpayers use TABOR refunds to fund their retirement, pay for health care, save for their children’s college education and so on. They want to convince you they need that money more than you do.

• The Democrats have a majority in the House and the Senate, which means they can send just about anything that they want to the ballot in November to damage TABOR. Ultimately the voters will make the decision for them however, and a study commissioned by the Independence Institute and the Colorado Club for Growth showed that over half of Coloradoans do not support weakening TABOR.

• The Democrats current proposal to cut the actual income tax, but keep your TABOR refund, will actually make poor people worse off. The very same group they constantly purport to care so much about. Through TABOR tax credits and refunds taxpayers will be able to keep more money in their pockets than they would under the proposed Democrats “tax cut.”

• Under TABOR, for the years 1997-2001, the taxpayers of Colorado received approximately $3.25 billion (approximately $800 a person or $3200 for a family of four) in tax rebates or tax refunds.