eliminate rebates that taxpayers receive when the state collects more money than it is allowed, and spend the money on preschool through 12th grade (P-12) public education;
eliminate the required inflationary increase for P-12 education spending; and
set aside money in a new savings account for P-12 education.
Amendment 59 is also known as "Colorado SAFE" or "Savings Account for Education."
Why Vote "No" on Amendment 59?
Amendment 59 is a permanent tax increase. Forcing you to donate your tax rebate to government programs is a net tax increase. The fact that tax rates remain constant on paper is irrelevant. The government will keep more of your hard-earned money because you will never again get the tax rebate due to you under TABOR. So Amendment 59 is a real and permanent tax increase.
Amendment 59 is really about raising general tax revenues. Amendment 59 isn't about increasing funding for Colorado's government schools. Instead, the measure frees up general funds currently spent on education. So it enables politicians to spend more of your money on their pet projects.
Even the supporters of Amendment 59 admit that. The Rocky Mountain Newsquoted Amendment 59 supporter Carol Hedges of the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute as saying that "a dedicated source of funding for schools could reduce the pressure on the general fund, and in turn allow legislators more opportunity for investing in other priorities, such as health care, higher education and transportation." The same story also quoted David Miller of the Denver Foundation as saying: "As I understand it, SAFE does more than just support education. If it passes, it would free up general fund dollars for health care, which is why the Colorado Health Foundation is a big supporter."
Politicians need to rein in their spending on such entitlements, not expand them.
Amendment 59 violates property rights. It is wrong to take other people's property by force, even for seemingly good causes. Every person has a moral right to use his money however he pleases, even if others disagree with his choices. Amendment 59 would violate that natural right by extracting even more money from Colorado taxpayers by force based on majority vote.
In particular, Amendment 59 would force all taxpayers to support government schools and other entitlement programs, even if opposed to or unsatisfied with them. If a person -- maybe you! -- would prefer to use his TABOR refund to provide a better education for his children, donate to causes he values, or invest in his own education, tough. Amendment 59 will forbid it.
Amendment 59 increases government interference in our economy and our lives. As Peter Blake writes in the Rocky Mountain News, Amendment 59 "would effectively eliminate TABOR's other major goal: Limiting, even shrinking, the role of government in the state's economic life." In other words, Amendment 59 will increase the government's power over your life. Your life, wealth, and happiness will depend even more on the arbitrary decisions of politicians and bureaucrats in Denver -- rather than on your own choices in pursuit of your own values.
Amendment 59 will be bad for Colorado's economy. In the Rocky Mountain News, Barry Poulson writes:
The elimination of spending caps will result in higher levels of state spending. Colorado state fiscal policies will look more like they did prior to 1992, when these spending caps were put into place. Without these spending caps, state spending can again grow more rapidly than state income; and we could again see double-digit growth in state spending as we did prior to 1992.
This rapid growth in state spending will make it more difficult to balance the state budget. In periods of recession and revenue shortfall there will be more pressure to raise taxes and issue more debt to finance the higher levels of state spending. This will create a less favorable business tax climate. Currently Colorado is growing more rapidly than most states because we have a favorable business tax climate. With Amendment 59 in place, we should expect lower rates of economic growth, comparable to the 1980s when Colorado grew less rapidly than most other states.
Thanks to government intervention in the financial markets, the US economy is headed for rough times in the years ahead. So it's more important than ever to keep taxes low, so that hard-working Coloradans can weather this financial storm.
Amendment 59 will be another boondoggle. Colorado recently passed other major tax hikes. Referendum C raised spending more than promised. FasTracks (a.k.a. TaxTracks) didn't accomplish the promised project. Amendment 59 would just be more of the same.
Amendment 59 is deceptive. Advocates of abolishing the tax refunds guaranteed by the Colorado Constitution under TABOR should be straight with voters about that goal. They shouldn't imply that Amendment 59 is not a tax increase just because it does not change tax rates or that it's for "education" and that it "protects taxpayers" -- as do its supporters on their web site.
The simple fact is that Amendment 59 is a ploy to force more taxes from hard-working people for the sake of more irresponsible spending by politicians.
This VoteNo59.com web site was created by me, Diana Hsieh. You can find my opinions on a wide range of issues on my blog NoodleFood. You can also e-mail me at diana@dianahsieh.com.
