What’s What with TABOR?
What’s Tabor?
A bad idea, that’s what. TABOR is designed to restrict taxes and public spending, either by amending the state constitution or changing local laws. It’s the umbrella term for all legislative schemes designed to hamstring our elected representatives' ability to deal with budget issues.
What’s so bad about that?
This type of legislation denies our government the flexibility to maintain and strengthen essential public structures – like education, highways, and healthcare –on which our communities and economy depend.
What’s TABOR short for?
Proponents call it “The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.” Pretty clever, eh? But because the bill restricts our constitutional freedoms, it’s anything but a Bill of Rights. It’s really Taxpayer Bait Or Switch (okay, so we have to fudge the cliché a little to make the letters come out right, but so did they!) Let’s avoid the name game and call it TABOR.
What other states have TABOR?
Colorado, since 1992. But in November ’05, Coloradoans voted to ease TABOR’s strict controls on state spending.
What’s happened to
Colorado?
Bad things. That’s why the people of
Colorado – even those who had supported TABOR – are trying hard to turn back the clock. The state used to rank in the middle on child well-being. Now it’s at the bottom. By 2009 funding for state universities will dry up. And the promised economic boom? Didn’t happen.
Colorado hasn’t even kept up with its
Rocky
Mountain neighbors.
What will happen to
Kansas?
It’s tough to un-amend the constitution. By the time we realize the full force of TABOR, our lives will have changed forever. So will the services we depend on.
What can I do to stop it?
Learn more. Before TABOR gets put on the ballot. Print these fliers and share them with people you know (and even people you don’t!). Urge them to visit www.tabortruth.org/ and find out what’s what with TABOR – before it’s too late. Contact your representatives and tell them you know what TABOR really is. Find them at www.koufax.kgs.edu/demograph/ims/myelect.cfm.
