This fall, Colorado voters will vote on an amendment to the state constitution that would spur their taxes to grow, as well as their government.
The brainchild of a tax-hungry legislature, Referendum C would scrap Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, known as TABOR, and let the state government keep some $3 billion meant for its citizens.
Under TABOR, Denver must rebate all growth in revenues that exceed the inflation rate plus the rate of population growth. As an example, let’s say inflation is 2.5 percent and the population grows 1.5 percent. But revenue growth is 6 percent. That means that Coloradoans get back the extra 2 percentage points in tax rebates.
In its 13 years of existence, TABOR has pushed the effective income tax rate to 4.63 percent, down from 5 percent. And government spending has still grown, but at a much slower rate than spend-happy lawmakers would have liked.
TABOR also set the stage for a surge in Colorado’s economic growth. In the 10 years after TABOR was passed, the job growth rate was double that of the previous 10 years.
To be sure, the national economy grew over the same time period, but Colorado surpassed the national rate of growth.
Imagine if the federal government had a similar limit on revenue growth. We’d all see the economic benefits, and the lawmakers would have to start setting priorities in the federal budget.
But you can bet that members of Congress would echo their Colorado counterparts. They’d trot out all the old horror stories about closing schools and libraries, seeing more crime and watching the infrastructure crumble. Horse hockey. Lawmakers in Colorado want a Rocky Mountain high of more tax money and are singing a false tune to get it.