Look between the Lines:  “Protection” means “Disaster”!

by Neil P. Harrison

Over the next few weeks the Pennsylvania Senate will consider a so-called “Taxpayer Protection Act.” Don’t be fooled by the title. The proposal is very similar to the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) that Colorado adopted early 1990s. TABOR proved to be a disaster for governments, business, taxpayers, children, the sick, the poor, and the powerless.

I know because I was there.

I was a pastor in Colorado when the economy faltered during a three-year national recession starting in 2001, and witnessed the devastating impact as the spending limits mandated by TABOR forced the state to cut $1 billion in funding for services on which thousands of citizens and businesses depended.

After 10 years of TABOR-induced spending reductions in Colorado, the state could not weather the recession. Over the years, higher education funding had plunged by 31%.  The share of low-income children lacking health insurance doubled, and by 2006, Colorado ranked last in the 50 states in providing poor kids with health insurance. The state declined from 23rd to 48th in the nation in the percentage of pregnant women receiving adequate access to prenatal care. Colorado sank from 24th to 50th in the nation in the share of children receiving full vaccinations.  With this record of performance, is this the sort of results we want for Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania Taxpayer protection proponents will compare Colorado’s stronger economic growth over the past decade to that of Pennsylvania. Yet they will probably also fail to mention that every Rocky Mountain state experienced equally large economic growth without government spending caps in place. In fact, largely as a result of the economic damage done by TABOR, Colorado is the only Rocky Mountain state with fewer jobs today than in 2001. 

The fact that TABOR failed in Colorado was proven most dramatically when, voting in a 2005 statewide referendum, Coloradoans decided to overturn the TABOR provision for five years.

TABOR’s failure is its restrictive formula. State lawmakers don’t control health care costs, prison populations or education costs, which grow faster than the rate of inflation. In Colorado, this caused cuts in critical transportation and higher education funding initially, but before long it required cuts in everything. In 2005, Governor Bill Owens indicated that the state would be forced to begin selective release of inmates from state prisons because of the spending caps. TABOR isn’t about making better decisions; it’s about making bad decisions for the sake of a formula

The faith community became passionate about the shocking results of TABOR and organized the Colorado Religious Communities for the Common Good, the largest interfaith coalition in Colorado history, to oppose TABOR and roll back its provisions.  This broad based interfaith coalition represented many faith traditions, including members from the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon communities, as well as faith-based service providers, the Colorado Council of Churches and the Interfaith Alliance. 

We joined in a huge coalition of organizations and people, from all parties and walks of life—people of faith, business owners and workers, local government officials, children’s organizations, service providers, and grassroots organizations who serve low-income and vulnerable populations--who joined together in 2005 to support the Economic Recovery Act in opposition to TABOR.

People of faith have always heard a particular call to action to raise our voices on behalf of those in greatest need and take action for justice.  If any of us suffers, we all suffer.  Because of huge state budget cuts caused by TABOR, many of the most vulnerable in Colorado lost access to services such as food, housing, health care, education and disability services.  These are basic human needs for which we are all called to speak and act.

I urge Pennsylvanians to be wary of the TABOR gimmick.  The so-called Taxpayer Protection Act is a misnomer guaranteed to limit Pennsylvania’s options at the time when the Commonwealth is debating the best path to a brighter future.  Do not choose the path to disaster that we traveled in Colorado.

The Rev. Neil P. Harrison

Executive Director

Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania

Rev. Neil Harrison is the director of public policy and advocacy ministry for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Pennsylvania.