Other initiatives similar to TABOR are being proposed in a number of other states, so those of you in other parts of the U.S. may be interested to learn from our experience, since this type of thing can have a major impact.
Ref C and D are the budget fix that our Republican Governor and our Democratic-controlled state legislature worked together on during the past session. Leaders of both parties are now actively working together on the campaign to pass it.
The business community is also strongly in favor. Ref C and D are backed by prominent business group such as CACI (the State Chamber of Commerce) and AeA (the largest high-tech industry group). [In the interest of disclosure I should mention that I sit on the board of the local AeA chapter.]
In short, TABOR puts a limit on the amount of money the state can keep. Funds collected above that amount are returned to the taxpayers in a rebate. This worked well when the economy was growing, but during the recession the "ratchet effect", reset the limit downward. The state keeps growing, but the budget doesn't.
Ref C and D propose to permanently eliminate the ratchet effect and to temporarily allow the state to keep the rebate. Because TABOR was a consitutional ammendment, we the voters have to approve anything related to it.
I am no fan of taxes, but I do believe that for businesses in our state to be successful we need (1) Infrastructure (2) Higher education and (3) a favorable business climate. This affects the first two directly.
According to the non-partisan JBC (Joint Budget Committee), the state will have to cut $400-500 million next year from an already tight budget.
The people who are against this generally argue that government is still too big, taxes too high, and the JBC has their numbers wrong.
I encourage you to take a look and see what you think.
www.voteyesonc-d.com.
Here is a good article in the Denver Business Journal.
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2005/07/25/editorial1.html
