For Immediate Release July 30, 1997

Refund Excess Revenue to Give Citizens Real Choices

Colorado state government financial experts said this spring that the state revenues were below the limits set by Amendment One, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). Then one source disclosed in May the state had $37 million in excess revenue to return to taxpayers. A competing bureaucracy said it was $56 million. The number rose to $80 million, $105 million, $131 million, and now $140 million. Imagine! The fiscal year is over and the state still does not know how much money it has. Government "experts" were wrong by over $150 million. What’s going on?

As a former state legislator, I regretfully report that the state is so big, so bumbling, so inefficient that it cannot perform its basic duty to manage our tax money wisely. A few years ago, the state admitted it did not know how many vehicles it owned. Tens of billions of dollars later, the bureaucracy isn’t sure about liquid assets.

The solution, of course, is for the state finally to begin to set fiscal priorities. Harmful programs should be ended and marginal ones cut back. Some services should be sent to local governments to run, and others should be managed by the private sector.

But if Gov. Romer and other big government advocates have their way, that will never happen. They want to spend your $140 million tax refund--all of it--on more well-intentioned handouts. They want you to think that the only choice for our future is bigger government, and the only way to fund it is keeping more of your money rather than cutting out waste. Gov. Romer wants a special session of the legislature--costing about $15,000 a day--in order to call a special statewide election costing $4 million, in order to talk you out of your money with feel-good fuzzy buzzwords like "schools" or "roads."

How did we get this excess revenue? Amendment One in 1992 let state revenue grow annually by inflation plus population growth. So 4% inflation plus 2% population increase let revenue grow 6% automatically. Government services covered new residents with inflation-adjusted dollars. Contrary to the woeful predictions of the Amendment One opponents, the Amendment never caused a decline in state revenue--which has risen billions of dollars in the past five years. Amendment One triggered an economic boom that has made Colorado the envy of the other 49 states. Our state economy has been ranked #1 for the past four years.

Amendment One was one of the wisest decisions Colorado voters ever made. Now we can reap the reward of our healthy economy by getting a refund of excess taxes. A flat refund amount would be about $80, or $160 for a married couple filing separate tax returns.

Gov. Romer, who fought Amendment One bitterly, saying it would ruin the state, now poses as the advocate of letting people vote on taxes. Why? It’s the only way the state bureaucracy can get its hands on your tax refund.

If the Governor wants to let people choose how to spend the money, that’s easy. Forget the special session. Just give us our refund, and we will spend it. Instead of 51% of voters spending the money of the other 49%, individuals will make their own choices.

Dad will buy tires for the car, or repaint the den; Mom will buy new sneakers for Junior, or take Aunt Mary to lunch. All those purchases will generate sales tax revenue and help create jobs.

The issue is not whether the money will be spent: it’s who will do the spending: bureaucrats or families. Government aficionados may return their refund to state treasurer Bill Owens with a note stating what failed welfare program they want to subsidize. Everyone gets what they want, voting with their own money.

Politicians love the blame game. I prefer to praise the true hero in this drama: Douglas Bruce. He wrote Amendment One, which set the revenue limits the state has now exceeded by at least $140 million.

Douglas Bruce has now written a two-sentence tax cut petition. It offers $25 tax cuts on everyone’s utility bill taxes, car taxes, income taxes, and property taxes, to be fully repaid by future excess state revenue.

Everyone can spend their refund as they wish, but I’ll be sending my 1997 refund in advance to the Douglas Bruce’s Tax Cut Committee (Box 26018, Colo. Spgs. CO 80936) with a big "Thank you!"

This article, from the Independence Institute staff, fellows and research network, is offered for your use at no charge. Independence Feature Syndicate articles are published for educational purposes only, and the authors speak for themselves. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an attempt to influence any election or legislative action.
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