Last year, Gov. Bill Owens railed about outsiders “trying to buy this election” as the Washington, D.C., anti-tax lobby poured money into a doomed effort to defeat Referendum C, the five-year TABOR correction that he championed.
This year, it is Owens crossing state lines, poking his nose into Maine politics, where he supports a TABOR-light initiative.
Owens stars in an ad that tells voters: “The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights has been a tremendous success here in Colorado – more jobs, lower taxes and young people choosing to stay in our state.”
Really?
A group opposed to Maine’s version of TABOR wasted no time putting up a response ad featuring, yes, Owens, as he appeared in last year’s pro-Referendum C campaign, saying that “Colorado is in trouble” because of a glitch in TABOR. “fter a billion dollars in cuts, we still face a budget crisis,” he said.
“You call that a glitch?” the ad says.
Fortunately, Maine’s proposed version of TABOR doesn’t include the ratchet effect that permanently reduced Colorado’s revenue base after tax revenues fell during the recession.
But even before the ratchet took effect, Colorado’s fiscal standing was being diminished by TABOR restrictions. That’s why so many voters, business leaders and local government officials demanded a change. Between 1991 and 2000, state and local per-pupil funding of public schools fell from $299 above the national average to $697 below. Colorado went from 26th to 32nd in per-pupil spending. College tuition rocketed as total state funding for higher education grew at the second-slowest rate in the nation.
It’s up to Maine’s voters to decide if that’s the future they want. For us, we’re glad voters chose the TABOR timeout and restored funding for Colorado transportation, higher education and health care.
