Colorado voters suspend TABOR,
pointing the way for Missouri

After living with the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights for 12 years, Colorado voters sent a clear message this week that such proposals are bad for business, bad for working people, bad for children and families and bad for the state. Colorado voters suspended TABOR, allowing the state to recover from the devastating budget cuts imposed by the constitutional lid passed in 1992. A similar measure has been introduced in the Missouri legislature each of the last two years.

“Colorado voters recognized that, instead of a bill of rights, they were sold a bill of goods,” says Greg Jung, president of the Missouri National Education Association. “Just like the TABOR measure being pushed in Missouri, it’s a gimmick that sounds good but fails to deliver.”

During the years TABOR was in effect in Colorado, the state lost ground on nearly every important measure of overall well being. Colorado dropped from 35th to 49th in the nation in K-12 spending as a percentage of personal income, in-state college tuition increased 21 percent over the last four years and childhood vaccination rates plummeted.

The MNEA president points out that because TABOR amends the constitution, a huge effort is required to reverse it. According to news reports, most of the effort and funding to suspend TABOR in Colorado came from in-state business leaders and private citizens, with support from the state’s Republican governor. On the other hand, the war chest to defend TABOR poured in from out-of-state interests such as Freedom Works and Club for Growth.

“Missouri voters should learn from Colorado’s failed budget experiment, and be wary of TABOR-style spending limits,” adds Jung. “TABOR would be just as harmful for Missouri as it was for Colorado. Such limits have no relation to Missouri’s economic reality or Missouri’s priorities. Instead, TABOR arbitrarily reduces funding on education, roads and other services that we need to build a strong Missouri.”

More information on TABOR can be found on the Missouri Budget Project’s Web site at www.mobudget.org.

For further information:
Carol K. Schmoock
573-634-3202

November 3, 2005