Overlooked in much of the analysis in this off-year election results were the latest defeats of anti-government "TABOR" (an acronym derived from "Taxpayers Bill of Rights,'' a frequently used title for such efforts) initiatives in two states, Washington and Maine. TABOR formulas are designed to impose arbitrary limits on growth of taxes and appropriations, and most mainstream policy experts dismiss them as unwise and inflexible.
As the national Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted :
Yesterday’s votes in Maine and Washington show clearly that TABOR’s crippling and arbitrary spending limits remain unpopular around the country. Anti-government groups have made serious efforts to enact TABORs in 20 states since 2004 — and they have failed every time. While these groups will likely target other states in 2010, there is little reason to believe they will have more success.
Minnesota has escaped these TABOR initiatives, although efforts to get them on the ballot as constitutional questions have been mounted. Unfortuneately, too many of our elected officials, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty, unwisely got themselves cornered into signing "no new taxes'' pledges earlier in the decade and Minnesota has been in a state of fiscal paralysis every since.
It's reassuring to see that ordinary voters in most states do not fall for the enticing promises of simplistic and arbitrary limits on public resources.
— Dane Smith
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