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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Arizona May Consider TABOR
Mere weeks after Colorado voters expressed their disgust with TABOR -- the "taxpayer's bill of rights" that was instituted in 1992 -- by passing Referendum C, lawmakers in Arizona are discussing efforts to institute their own TABOR-like measure which would limit state spending to population growth plus inflation. That combination was extremely harmful for Coloradoans, who were forced to significantly cut education and other programs and refund $3.25 billion in tax collections from 1992-2002, all while their ability to provide resources was eroding.
GOP state senator Dean Martin, a proponent of instituting a spending limit measure, said Arizona's TABOR "won’t cut any existing spending; it will merely prevent the government from growing faster than it can be supported." This statement is nothing short of a complete contradiction. Preventing tax revenue from being spent on state services guarantees that these programs will not be efficiently funded, and that instead this money will be given back to taxpayers as programs are forced to flounder.
Posted by Becky Lewis
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