Each side in this year’s TABOR battle claims to have the numbers on its side – and each has the charts to prove it.
Opponents of Referendums C and D say state spending has increased every year. Backers of the ballot measures say state spending dropped during the recession.
On Nov. 1, voters will let the politicians and policy wonks know which chart they believe.
That’s when voters decide whether to let state government keep up to $3.7 billion that would otherwise be refunded under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
In 1992, voters added TABOR to the state constitution, putting strict spending limits on state officials and forcing them to refund any tax revenues that exceed those spending limits.
Douglas Bruce, the author of TABOR and one of the most outspoken opponents of Referendums C and D, said state spending has increased every year.
His chart shows red columns marching skyward – from $6.3 billion in 1992-93 to $14.6 billion in 2005-06.
To Bruce, his chart is irrefutable evidence of the government’s unrestrained appetite for money. The columns go up and up and up. The numbers get bigger and bigger.
To the backers of Referendums C and D, the chart is misleading because it fails to account for inflation and the growth in the state’s population. It also includes all state spending – including money from the federal government.
Backers of C and D say the federal spending on roads and other programs shouldn’t count. That money comes from tax payments to the federal government, not the state.
During the economic downturn that contributed to the state’s recent budget constraints, the state’s general-fund money for road projects has mostly disappeared.
Gov. Bill Owens prefers a chart that shows a 15 percent dip in general-fund spending caused by the recession that hit in 2001.
To Owens, his chart is a snapshot of a state that can’t escape the well-intended restraints of TABOR.
Owens focuses on the state’s general fund, which gets money from Colorado taxpayers to pay for programs intended to benefit the general public.
In Owens’ chart, general-fund revenues – adjusted for inflation and population growth – decreased during the early 2000s. In 2000-01, the state spent $797 per resident. By 2003-04, the amount dropped to $680.
Both Owens and Bruce say their information was prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Council.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
