TABOR — Taxpayer Bill of Rights — is shorthand for legislation that limits the changes in state spending to a highly restrictive formula, annual population change plus inflation. It would hold local spending to a stricter set of formulas: population change + inflation or net change in assessed value – whichever is lower. It is named after the constitutional amendment that was enacted in Colorado a decade ago and later suspended by a vote of the people in 2005.

TABOR may sound reasonable, but it falls far short of being able to fund the ongoing cost of government. In an era in which health care costs are growing far faster than inflation and populations are aging, limiting the rate of spending growth to inflation plus population growth forces annual reductions in the level of government services. TABOR also puts in place an expensive and slow governance procedure that creates uncertainty and missed investment opportunities. Although intended as tax relief and an economic development tool, TABOR will do neither and will lead to unintended consequences for the Maine economy.

TABOR State of the State Podcasts

• Rural CO view of TABOR
  Aug 22, 2006
  
• Tabor- Lessons from Colorado Nonprofits
  Apr 18, 2006
  
• TABOR - Lessons from a Colorado Legislator
  Feb 28, 2006
  

• TABOR: How Would It Affect Maine?
• What We Spend On The Environment
• What We Spend On Mental Health
• What We Spend on Higher Education
• Problems with Maine’s TABOR
• TABOR: Key Features of Maine’s Proposal
• Colorado’s TABOR: Economic Myths and Facts
• TABOR: Basic Facts

Other TABOR Resources

• TABOR Legislation
• TABOR impacts on Maine property taxes
• Cooperation a Better Route than TABOR for K-12 Efficiency Challenge
• Differences Between Colorado’s TABOR and Maine’s TABOR
• Education and Investment, Not TABOR, Fueled Colorado's Economic Growth in 1990s
  March 23, 2006 - Karen Lyons and Nicholas Johnson, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• The Same Old TABOR: Maine's "Taxpayer's Bill of Rights" Proposal Fails to Fix Flaws of Colorado's TABOR
  Iris J. Lav and Karen Lyons, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• TABOR: Not Right for Colorado - Not Right for Maine
  MECEP Choices, Vol 12 No. 1
• TABOR Today and in 2006
• TABOR is NOT local control
  Kittery Special Council Meeting
• TABOR: Unreasonable and Inneffective
  Western Maine Legislative Caucus
• TABOR Voter's Guide