The TABOR (Taxpayers' Bill of Rights)

This ballot measure is so destructive that the LWVOR took a position opposing it even before it made it on the ballot. So it is important that you inform as many people as possible of its potential negative impacts..

If enacted, the measure would tie state spending to inflation rates and population growth. This initiative would put into the Constitution a rigid and arbitrary spending cap on funding for public services such as education, health care, transportation and law enforcement. The costs of some state services, such as provided in the Oregon Health Plan, are rising faster than inflation. In this time of rapidly changing economics, the inability of the Legislature to act quickly in fiscal matters could be disastrous to Oregon’s future.

BACKGROUND: Data from Colorado’s 13 years of TABOR shows a decrease of 25% in funding for education and social services. Voters suspended the law for five years in 2005 after tuition for in-state higher education rose 21%, and Colorado dropped from 37th to 44th in the nation in K-12 education spending as a percentage of personal income. California voters turned down a similar proposal in November 2005. TABOR can devastate state budgets because it has a ratcheting down effect. Once funding for state services is reduced to TABOR's artificial limit, it can never be recovered.

We will have more information on all of the ballot measures in early October.

Andrea Blum, LWVDC President
 

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