Taxpayer Bill of Wrongs

George Lakoff pinned the tail on the donkey in his book Don't Think of an Elephant, defining Republican strategic initiatives as legislative policy goals that foster a conservative nirvana by gutting environmental, public health and worker protections while simultaneously decimating the Democratic Party's resource base.

Think tort reform. By closing down an avenue of justice for victims of say, corporate neglect, the GOP gets a "two-fer." They solidify their base and motivate CEOs to write them big checks while simultaneously draining revenue from trial lawyers who typically contribute to Democrats. (Foreclosing recompense for horribly injured victims? To corporate-beholden Republicans, that is "collateral damage.")

And now the GOP and its minions have come up with a new initiative to starve the public of vital services and decimate public employee unions. It is misleadingly (surprise!) called the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR. And as of now, it will be on the ballot this November in Oregon, Maine and Nebraska.

TABOR is the latest scheme cooked up by the likes of Grover Norquist and other unseemly characters like Libertarian millionaire Howie Rich. The plan, which voters are urged to approve as state constitutional amendments, caps tax revenue that states are allowed to spend on public services. This cap is determined by a combination of the consumer price index and population growth.

It is an effort to amend state constitutions to prevent lawmakers from raising revenue and to respond to public needs. It is the legislative equivalent of custom-fitted, stainless steel handcuffs fitted for any politician who might want to commit resources to address serious local problems. It removes power from elected officials to govern and provide vital services and hamstrings those seeking to properly fund needed public services.

TABOR has been tried once before, and the results provided a grim snapshot of Norquist's Darwinian utopia. In 1992, voters in Colorado were sold a bill of good that their rights as taxpayers needed "protecting." Colorado leaders made promises to voters they couldn't keep about maintaining public services and preserving the state's fiscal health. Voters passed TABOR and then watched in horror as it wreaked havoc on their state.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the number of uninsured children in Colorado doubled between 1993 and 2005, as the national rate of uninsured children declined during the same period. Massive budget shortfalls forced the closures of playgrounds, city parks and motor vehicle bureaus. Potholes cropped up on city streets that were never fixed. Colorado, which had ranked seventh nationally in per-capita personal income, plunged to 47th nationally in K-12 education funding, 45th in Medicaid enrollment, 48th in higher education spending and 50th in on-time immunizations. After TABOR's enactment, Colorado was forced to eliminate its affordable housing loans and grant program, and the state had to cut off funding to local and regional health agencies. The high school graduation rate fell from 76 percent in 2000 to 70 percent in 2004. The state's ranking on prenatal care went from 23rd to 48th.
While limits on revenue spending may work when the economy is booming, Colorado showed how TABOR forces draconian cuts to schools, health care and law enforcement when the economy turns south. That's why in 2005, Colorado voters suspended TABOR. They were encouraged to do so by the state's conservative Republican Gov. Bill Owens, who had vigorously backed TABOR in 1992.

But hurting the middle class and the poor has never stopped Norquist and his ilk before. This year, they tried to get TABOR on a host of state ballots. Unfortunately for them, TABOR supporters violated the law in trying to do so, and officials tossed TABOR in several states.

I bring TABOR up not just because it is another bad idea championed by a Republican Party that has given us an unending string of them. I bring it up because, like tort reform, the TABOR initiative is also designed to hurt public employee unions.

Think about it. Less money for schools means fewer teachers, thus weakening teachers' unions. Less money for law enforcement means fewer cops and 9-1-1 dispatchers, thus weakening police and city employee unions.

Today's Republican Party cares about one thing: holding onto power. And they figure the best way to keep power is to weaken their enemies. I'm proud to say that unions remain at the forefront in the fight to protect education, public health and safety, and the values progressives hold dear.

Fighting TABOR isn't just a cause for public employee unions. It's a cause for the entire progressive movement. Tell your friends in Oregon, Maine and Nebraska that all TABOR will do is "protect" them from a government that cares.