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The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) will create a larger disparity between wealthy and poor communities, further hurting education, said research analyst John Keckhaver during his keynote address Wednesday (July 20, 2005) at the Wisconsin Children Come First Conference.
TABOR, a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the taxing and spending authority of elected state and local leaders, could appear on statewide ballots as early as spring 2007.
Keckhaver told conference attendees if TABOR had been in place in 1986, state spending by 2003 would have been nearly one-third less than actual spending that year, assuming there was no referenda to exceed the limits. Keckhaver also said limited local government spending would adversely affect slow-growing municipalities more quickly than growing ones, creating a larger disparity between wealthy and poor communities.
Keckhaver said proponents of TABOR have claimed that less spending over time will allow government services to grow at a reasonable rate to keep up with needs. However, Keckhaver said, this is not the case because some government costs rise faster than the rate allowed by TABOR’s formula.
TABOR would also limit state efforts to bring critical services to those who need them, he said, including programs like the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) class-size reduction program. Early education efforts and state commitments to pay two-thirds of K-12 costs would also be affected, Keckhaver said.
Keckhaver advocated for the TABOR Hurts Investments in Kids (THINK) Coalition, which demonstrates a strong and visible opposition to TABOR. The THINK Coalition opposes policies that restrict the ability of policymakers to rapidly respond to the emerging needs of children and families. For more information on the THINK coalition, visit http://www.wccf.org/projects/think_coalition.htm.
For more information about TABOR, please visit OnWEAC’s resource page on Tax Gimmicks.
Posted July 27, 2005