When I first heard of Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101, all of which will be on the ballot in November, I wondered what sentiments among a large number of Coloradans could lead to such shoot-yourself-in-the-foot ideas. If passed into law, these will seriously threaten the way of life for everyone, liberals and conservatives alike. More important, these radical measures are destroyers of the future.
I understand anger at some federal decisions because government borrowing and spending often serves abstract purposes: bailing out banks, propping up car companies, and funding wars that should never have been waged in the first place. Who can fault an American taxpayer for wondering just what those billions of dollars are going toward?
But why take out the anger right here at home, in our state and localities? After all, spending on local schools, health care and highways is far from abstract.
To quickly review, Amendment 60 slashes property taxes, requiring that school districts reduce their mill levies by half during the next 10 years. Amendment 61 prohibits the state from borrowing; localities can borrow, but payback must be within 10 years. Proposition 101, among other things, nearly eliminates money raised through motor vehicle ownership fees.
Those hurt most by these ideas will be children because public education will be crippled.
A website advocating these measures, www.cotaxreforms.com, claims that school districts will lose no revenue because “state aid is already required by law to replace 100 percent of school tax revenue impacts.” That’s a great one liner, but it’s laughable. The state budget is already on the brink.
Amendment 61 is just plain anti-capitalism. One doesn’t need to be a businessperson to understand that big initiatives that bear fruit for decades require long-term debt. Proponents would argue that localities can still find a way to invest in the future using 10-year loans. How many of you are in a position to pay off your home loan in 10 years?
Proposition 101, according to the Bell Policy Center, will decimate Larimer County’s budget, of which more than half goes toward schools.
After TABOR, the so-called “Taxpayer Bill of Rights,” just how much more punishment can our students and teachers take? When TABOR passed in 1992, average teacher salaries compared to averages for other occupations was 30th in the nation. Colorado is now 49th. Of all 50 states, we are now 49th in K-12 spending as a percentage of personal income.
In the words of the proponents, the net effect of 60, 61 and 101 is “tax relief.” But short-term relief can spell long-term disaster.
In reality, the net effect of these measures will be the decimation of valuable services that define our way of life. We all want an equipped fire department nearby to respond when disaster strikes, roads and bridges that form the circulatory system of a robust economy, and most important, schools with competent teachers and reasonable class sizes so our children can grow up to succeed.
Even conservatives with no children in the public school system should still care about the long-term health of the Colorado economy. Education is an investment in the future prosperity of a society. There’s nothing abstract about that.
