Bad bill
World's Editorial Writers
March 31, 2006
TABOR not popular with legislators
The Taxpayer Bill of Rights, as proposed in Oklahoma, is so bad that even the state's lawmakers know it.
An Associated Press poll showed that only 17 of 148 state legislators polled favored the measure on which citizens might vote this fall. The secretary of state has counted nearly 300,000 signatures on petitions calling for an election on the proposal that would tie spending to a formula based on inflation and population growth.
The question is being challenged by more than two dozen plaintiffs, including some of the biggest donors to Republicans who hatched the TABOR monstrosity. The state Supreme Court will rule on the validity of the signatures. Meanwhile, lawmakers are considering versions of the program that was repudiated in November by voters in Colorado where the idea was conceived and put into effect in the 1990s.
The formula worked there to steadily reduce state spending at all levels. During the decade it was in effect, Colorado steadily sank in rank among the 50 states in almost every measure. Higher education in particular suffered. As state dollars to higher ed dwindled, educators had no choice but to raise tuition.
There was a revolt of sorts in Colorado. Instead of returning billions in taxes collected while services continued to decline, voters went to the polls and voted to spend that money on state services.
Oklahoma's level of taxation is much lower than Colorado's. In fact the Sooner state tax burden is near the bottom of the states. Still, there is a populist cry to cut taxes. Republicans at all levels, while preaching the high-tax song, also claim that government (including Oklahoma) spends too much on services. Thus, the initial popularity of TABOR, which promises to cut taxes and force reductions in spending.
But thoughtful people across the state are opposing the idea because it is fiscal alchemy. Alchemy, remember, is a process to make gold from lead. It doesn't work. Neither will TABOR.
