Editorial: A wish comes home to roost

Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 | 7:25 a.m.

Colorado voters embarked on an experiment in 1992 when they approved a constitutional restriction on how much money their state government could raise by taxing them. The restriction, known as a "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights," or TABOR for short, was the brainchild of an anti-tax resident who brought it to the voters by way of an initiative petition. On Tuesday, with key state programs already cut to the bone and facing even more cuts, voters approved a five-year suspension of TABOR.

The vote was of interest to Nevada because Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, a Republican candidate for governor, is proposing a constitutional amendment for Nevada that is patterned after Colorado's TABOR. What happened in Colorado is a warning to Nevadans that popular proposals to slash taxes and cut government spending can, in the long run, lead to unpopular consequences.

TABOR's main provision in Colorado established a base, allowable amount that the state government could collect in taxes. It restricted future tax collections to a formula based upon population growth and inflation. Any collections above that amount had to be returned to the voters. Tax increases could no longer be approved by voters' representatives; they had to be approved at all state and local levels by a direct vote of the people.

The amendment did not cause any pain through the 1990s, as Colorado experienced booms both in population and in the electronics and telecommunications industries. Beginning in 2000, however, the state's population began leveling and the economy entered a downturn. State revenues began evaporating. A sign that TABOR couldn't work in a bad economy came in 2000, when voters approved another constitutional amendment mandating annual increases in education funding. Voters realized that education was being victimized, and hoped that the increases could be paid for out of state surpluses. Under TABOR, however, the surpluses dried up.

With education, health care and transportation among the services being threatened by TABOR, 52 percent of the Colorado voters Tuesday approved suspending the tax restrictions and giving up a projected $3.7 billion in refunds over the next five years.

The lesson here for Nevada and other states considering TABOR-style constitutional amendments is that some people wish they had less government and fewer taxes -- until a few years after their wish has come true.