TABOR: Taboo
World's Editorial Writers
Tulsa World, February 20, 2006
Expert advises against initiative
The Alliance for Oklahoma's Future lived up to its name last week when it denounced the Taxpayer Bill of Rights initiative as potentially devastating to education, health care and other vital services. With TABOR the future of many Oklahoma services indeed would be in doubt.
With TABOR government spending is limited to the growth of inflation and population. The proposal was the subject of an initiative petition drive and is in the Oklahoma Supreme Court, where legal challenges are expected.
Carol Hedges, a fiscal analyst at the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, said TABOR "will force severe reductions in the quality of your schools, roads, universities, health care and economy."
Last year, Colorado voters rolled back the proposal for five years so the state could recover from TABOR's effects.
Hedges said that during the 12 years it had TABOR Colorado fell to near the bottom of states in funding for areas such as education and health.
David Blatt of the Tulsa-based Community Action Project, released a study by the Alliance saying the core features of Colorado's TABOR law are included in the Oklahoma version.
"TABOR is a formula for disaster," said Blatt, the public policy director for the anti-poverty group.
The alliance includes 40 groups, the state chapter of the AARP, the Oklahoma Conference of Churches and the County Government Legislative Council.
Rick Carpenter, spokesman for Oklahomans for Action, which conducted the TABOR petition drive, said Oklahoma's version of TABOR was written so it would not have the problems experienced in Colorado.
But others believe that Carpenter is dead wrong -- that TABOR would drastically affect a state that simply cannot afford to take any steps backward.
