Green and Gold Tabor Points

Yesterday, Charlie Sykes ask bloggers for help for a mom who had been recurited to oppose the Taxpayer' Bill of Rights. Here is the repsonse I sent back to Charlie.


ü This has nothing to do with Colorado. Stay away from Colorado. The Colorado TABOR is NOT what is going on in Wisconsin.

ü Colorado has 3 major problems that WILL NOT happen in Wisconsin.

1. “Ratcheting Effect” – When the economy went into recession, cuts to budgets had to be made in Colorado. For example: They cut a budget from $100 to $90 one year and from $90 to $80 in the next. Next, the economy improves and revenues increase. But they can only increase spending from the previous year $80. It “ratchets” down the base, so a program can never catch up to the spending levels before the cuts. A Wisconsin Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights will not have a ratchet effect.

2. Access to Rainy Day Fund – In Colorado, they made it virtually impossible to access their “Rainy Day Fund”. It’s like not using the money in your savings account if you lost your job. As a result, State Government had to cut programs to make up the difference. Despite money in reserve that could soften the blow. A Wisconsin Taxpayers Bill of Rights will allow for use of Rainy Day Fund to soften the blow.

3. Constitutional Amendment – Probably the biggest difference. Colorado passed a Constitutional Amendment mandating increased education spending every year. It was a guaranteed increase in government spending with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights caps government spending. This caused enormous stress on the system because virtually every dollar in available spending must go to education, leaving the rest of state government in a lurch. Wisconsin will not have a constitutionally mandated increase in education spending.

Specifically Schools:

ü Schools have been living under spending controls for ten years and Wisconsin’s education system in on of the best in the country. If anything, they prove that spending controls work.

ü There are no cuts in a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. It is limiting the increase in spending to somewhere between 4% and 5%.

ü If a local school district wants to spend more is can go to referendum. Local referendums have pass at about 50%.

ü This is about taxpayers getting more involved and having a say. Trust them to do the right thing. Taxpayers are not idiots.