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As the legislative session comes to a close, it is impossible to overlook the budgetary limitations which will only intensify as costs continue to rise. The Taxpayers Bill of Rights, often referred to as “TABOR,” is the most restrictive tax law in the country, capping the state budget to the 2008 government income adjusted for inflation and population growth.
I am a 20-year-old humanities student; budgets and taxes are certainly not my passion. But as someone who was excited for policies that would fund education, address the climate crisis, increase access to healthcare, and promote food security and livable wages, I soon realized that what I had overlooked as a dull monetary policy was the biggest actor in the statehouse, blocking practically all of the legislation I had hoped for.
Since it was passed in 1992, TABOR has limited Colorado’s budget. This session, that resulted in the state’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall.
Colorado citizens want healthcare. They want funding for their kids’ schools, livable wages, affordable housing, and reliable public transportation. Well-meaning legislators work hard, oftentimes long into the evening, to bring about policy to meet constituents’ needs. However, before the session even started, they were significantly handicapped by the budget.
In my work as an organizer with Mi Familia Vota, most Coloradans I talk to are unaware of why the state not only is failing to bring about new positive changes, but is actually rolling back the programs they and their neighbors, despite political differences, agree on.
We can no longer let complex monetary language act as a barrier for us to ensure our communities have equal access to necessary services. TABOR is a human issue. It significantly impacts Coloradans’ everyday lives. The law’s complex formula, however, presents a barrier to people’s understanding of how it impacts them on the ground. This is no coincidence; TABOR was written by a man who deliberately manipulated language to gain the support of Coloradans and even legislators who didn’t know what they were signing on to.
Only once TABOR had passed and legislators went back through the fine print, did they learn how restricting it really was. The law removes the ability of state and local governments to raise revenue and limits how much revenue the state can keep. Now, although the implications of TABOR are right in front of us every day, tax reform continues to be taboo.
Fair taxation should not be a contentious issue. Taxes are simply the basis of how our government operates. When we pool our money, a little goes a long way.
Each spring, my elementary school would participate in Pennies for Patients fundraising. I’d walk around with my butterfly backpack, sparkly shoes, and a little cardboard box asking my grandparents, gymnastic coach, bus driver, and neighbors to donate a penny for kids with leukemia. When the school gathered to pool our pennies together, I remember being shocked at how mere pennies can add up to hundreds of dollars. Later, I realized that we have a system for everyone to chip in on a societal level; taxes are an equitable way to fund services that benefit our entire society.
TABOR, however, significantly weakens this system, leaving more and more services to bake sales, food drives, and efforts like Pennies for Patients led by kids rather than wealthy citizens who have more than enough pennies to spare.
Those who would benefit most from TABOR reform are also those for whom TABOR’s tax-back checks are most significant. In this way, these people are practically bribed into accepting a policy that impairs their wages, environment, transportation, and healthcare.
Meanwhile, the wealthiest citizens, who get away with paying some of the lowest taxes in the country, know exactly how TABOR serves them while it slashes services and dismantles vital programs for the rest of us. They push legislators to remain silent on any discussion of working toward a fair tax system that serves the needs of all Coloradans.
It’s important to be clear that a budget shortfall is not inevitable. Colorado’s economy is thriving. There are more jobs than ever and property value is increasing.
Nevertheless, costs of education and healthcare grow faster than the TABOR cap, and the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) is forced to make painful cuts that consistently hit low-income communities the hardest. The JBC works hard to make cuts that will be the least damaging, but most of the general budget funds are already appropriated and, to stay within budget, cuts have to be made to the top three most expensive programs: Medicaid, K-12 education, and higher education.
While the budget crisis is not JBC members’ faults, it is certainly not our children, elders, teachers, or low-income communities’ faults either. We must address the budget crisis at its root through TABOR reform.
I urge legislators to be bold and take a stand against TABOR — the most consequential policy shaping Colorado today. Choosing to stay silent or do nothing is still a choice, one that carries real consequences for people already facing immense challenges in this moment of national crisis.
Simone Colburn, a sophomore at Colorado College, grew up in Cambridge, Mass., and is a social justice organizer with Mi Familia Vota.
