Head to head on TABOR

Rocky Mountain News ^ | April 30, 2008 | Chris Barge

[george76]

The matchup was inevitable.

For the past two months, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff ...

His complex proposal would undo the tightest part of that knot by lifting the spending limits imposed by the 1992 Taxpayer's Bill of Rights...

Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs,...

"For this purpose, I come before you as the author of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, and as is my wont, I will speak plainly," he began. "This measure, if adopted, will mean unlimited state spending forever."

Bruce railed against what he saw as a conspiracy by the "tax-and-spend crowd" to "con" voters into giving up government accountability, and to allow government to raise taxes without voters' consent by disguising taxes as fees.

"I think people are not going to be fooled," Bruce said...

Bruce called any promise that the plan would allow voters to retain the right to vote on any tax increases "utter nonsense."

"All we're doing here is deceiving the voters by saying, 'Oh sure, you can vote on taxes, but guess what? We just won't have any more taxes in Colorado. We'll have an income fee, a sales transaction fee, a property fee, and we'll just call everything a fee, and then the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights will just be a bad dream, which is what the tax-and-spend crowd would like,"

[rellimpank]

-—good one—

[goldstategop]

The Colorado elite in 2004 won a temporary suspension of TABOR through 2009. Supposedly to provide more money for schools and roads. But that isn't enough for them. They now want to eliminate taxpayer protections - permanently. Let's hope the state's voters see through what they're doing.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus