These fine fall days with the changing aspen inspire me to visit Marshall Pass or the North Fork when I have free time, rather than wander around town. This may explain why I have yet to encounter anyone circulating a petition for a state ballot proposal.
But they’re probably soliciting signatures somewhere. One group wants to give us another chance to defeat full legal rights for zygotes, which we did by a 73-27 percentage margin last year in voting down Amendment 48.
And there are the Brucites, who are petitioning for three measures to reduce taxes and limit government options.
Doug Bruce, former El Paso County commissioner and briefly a state representative, is the author of the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, an amendment to our state constitution.
I like the general tenor of TABOR, that tax increases should be approved by the public. I don’t like certain specifics, like the “ratchet effect,” which voters removed. And I’m dismayed that our courts refuse to enforce it, as when a district judge found several TABOR violations in a water conservancy district expansion election, but still refused to order a new and honest election.
Further, TABOR inspires some distorted legislation. For instance, just about everybody agrees that Colorado roads need more money. The fair way to pay for it is with increased fuel taxes — the more you drive, the more you use the roads, so the more you pay.
Raising fuel taxes, though, would involve taking the case to the public. Gov. Roy Romer went out and stumped to replace Stapleton with Denver International Airport. Gov. Bill Owens went out and stumped for T-REX and Referendum C.
Gov. Bill Ritter, however, declined even to try to persuade us that an increased fuel tax was in the public interest. It should have been an easy sell, since most of us are smart enough to know that highways don’t build and maintain themselves.
But instead, Ritter and the legislature raised auto registration fees, which bear only a remote relationship to highway wear and tear. They did this because TABOR allows for fee increases without a public vote, and so no one would face the political risk of supporting a tax increase.
This variety of leadership is unlikely to be included in future editions of “Profiles in Courage,” and negating the auto registration fee increase is the subject of one Brucite petition.
The Brucites can perform neat political tricks, too. They can thrive because it’s popular to oppose taxes.
But when state and local governments have to cut services, who takes the political heat? (Hint: It’s not the Brucites.) Who would get blamed if the legislature were to announce that there just wasn’t enough money to keep a highway open in the winter? Or when an elementary school must put 45 kids in each barely heated classroom?
Here’s what I wish the Brucites would do: Find all the subsidies offered in the name of economic development in Colorado, such as property tax abatements, industrial revenue bonds, municipal utility rate reductions, sales-tax exemptions, enterprise zones, etc., and then demand they be repealed.
With everyone paying a fair share, tax rates could go down while public services would be maintained, and most of us would be better off.
But then again, this would be a lot of work, and if our governor won’t do his job properly, why should the citizens be any better?
Ed Quillen (ekquillen@gmail.com) of Salida is a freelance writer and history buff, and a frequent contributor to The Post.
