Resources

Economist Explains How TABOR Shrinks State Economy

The Sierra Institute of Applied Economics CEO, Dr. Richard Sims, recently completed papers explaining how TABOR shrinks state economies, causing significant job losses as well as reductions in individual personal income.

In Montana, Dr. Sims found that the major impacts on Montanans' economy and quality of life can be stated as follows:

• Tax and spending limitations during the 15-year window from 1990 to 2005 under TABOR would have yielded a net loss of 6,000 jobs in Montana, and a net reduction of Montanans' total personal income by $149 million.
• In 2005 alone, after 15 years under TABOR, Montana's public services  would experience a 27.7% cut, a reduction of $379 million from state funding for Montana's essential obligations and institutions, including first responders, law enforcement, fire prevention and protection, public health and public schools.
• During the 15-year TABOR window reductions in spending would have caused job losses in the private as well as public sectors, cut household earnings, and reduced demand for consumer goods and business services -- all yielding a net loss to the Montana economy.

Read the entire report by downloading "What If TABOR Had Been Enacted in Montana 15 Years Ago?"  ( PDF, 128 KB, 6 pages)

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a widely respected Washington, D.C. policy organization "working at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals."

The Center studies the impact of proposed policies and programs on "the health of the economy and on the soundness of federal and state budgets." Among its wide-ranging collection of research reports, CBPP has a set of studies of TABOR and TABOR-type proposals and their potential impacts on state budgets and services in Michigan, Nevada, Montana, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. It has a number of reports with analyses of Colorado's experience with its TABOR.

Other recommended CBPP resources include:

• The Flawed "Population Plus Inflation" Formula; Why TABOR's Growth Formula Doesn't Work
• A "Super" Bad Idea: Requiring a Two-thirds Legislative Supermajority to Raise Taxes Protects Special Interest Tax Breaks and Gives Budget Veto Power to a Small Minority of Legislators  

TABOR Tops List of 'Gimmicks that Don't Work'

The Real Education Solutions Web site offers a sampling of "Solutions that Work"  and "Gimmicks that Don't Work," which is topped by TABOR. The Web site explains why "TABOR's simplistic plan to 'starve government' also threatens to starve our schools of the precious financial resources they need to educate our children."

The Web site offers a good sampling of news stories and research from a variety of sources.

Colorado Think Tank Offers Detailed Look at Nation's First TABOR

The Bell Policy Center is an independent think tank that is, according to its Web site, " committed to making Colorado a state of opportunity for all. The non-profit center seeks "to reinvigorate the debate on issues affecting the well-being of Coloradans and to promote policies that open gateways to opportunity."

Its Web site includes a comprehensive section on TABOR  that provides "Resources," "Publications" "Events," and "Education Tools" related to Colorado's TABOR, which is the first and only TABOR to be enacted in any state. According the Bell Policy Center, "Over the years, structural flaws in TABOR have seriously impaired the state's ability to set budgetary and programmatic priorities and respond to crises, such as the recent economic downturn. TABOR has played a major role in Colorado's current fiscal 'train wreck.'"

Progressive States Network

The Progressive States Network offers useful background and analyses of TABOR, including information about the "Backers of TABOR" that reveals that "virtually all of the funding is coming from the same handful of organizations."

Among the site's resources is The Taxpayers' Bill of Goods, which includes:

• TABOR in Your State 
• A TABOR Primer: Why the Policy is So Destructive 
• TABOR's Disastrous Record in Colorado 
• Why TABOR Hurts the Economy 

TABOR is just one of the issues that Progressive States Network studies and monitors. The Network was founded "to pass progressive legislation in all fifty states by providing coordinated research and strategic advocacy tools to forward-thinking state legislators."

Bloggers Are Making the Connections

TABOR and similar issues have been getting attention in the blogosphere lately. A number of bloggers have been "following the money" and making the connections that show the same small group of wealthy libertarians is supporting TABOR and other issues in the various states where they have surfaced. Among these bloggers are:

Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/user/sandlapper

Left in the West: http://leftinthewest.com/index.php/2006/07/26/howard-richs-alg-claims-credit-for-montana-initiatives/

Preemptive Karma: http://www.preemptivekarma.com/archives/2006/07/the_problem_wit_1.html

Boregasm: http://www.hartwilliams.com/blog/2006/07/unlimited-terms-of-endearment-part-i.html

Blogs reflect the personal opinions of their authors and assertions and statements made by them may or may not be substantiated. In listing these resources, the NEA in no way is vouching for their accuracy or credibility.