FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 13, 2009

Contact:  Jon Caldara, President (303-279-6536, Jon@i2i.org)

Think Tank Releases ‘A Fiscal Roadmap For Colorado’

Author proposes a “New Fiscal Constitution” for Colorado and warns “Don’t go the way of California, keep Colorado’s TABOR Amendment intact.”

GOLDEN. Colo.- The Independence Institute today released the Issue Paper, ‘A Fiscal Roadmap For Colorado,’ written by Barry W. Poulson, senior fellow in fiscal policy at the Golden, Colorado based think tank and professor of economics at the University of Colorado.    The paper is based on remarks delivered by Poulson in July in front of Colorado’s Long-Term fiscal Stability Commission.

“Colorado appears to be at a crossroads similar to California in the late 1980s” said Poulson.  California’s GANN Amendment, which was the precursor of the TABOR Amendment in Colorado, limited the growth of state revenue and spending to the sum of inflation and population growth.  “But in the late 1980s, under pressure from the education employee lobby, the California legislature abandoned the GANN Amendment, and the rest is history,” notes Poulson.  “As a result, state spending increased more rapidly than personal income, and taxes were increased to one of the highest rates in the country.  California created one of the worst business tax environments in the country and as a result has experienced economic retardation over the last two decades.”

To avoid replicating California’s fiscal disaster, Poulson recommends a ‘New Fiscal Constitution’ for Colorado, which includes preserving and strengthening Colorado’s tax and spending limitations (TABOR) by among other things, restoring caps on property taxes and limiting user fees; eliminating structural deficits in the state budget such as Amendment 23; and further restricting the state’s ability to incur debt by eliminating unfunded liabilities in state pension and Other Post Employment Benefit (OPEB) plans.  The paper also calls for budgetary reforms to include, among other things, the introduction of priority budgeting; conducting performance and sunset reviews of state programs; and the elimination of unfunded liabilities and mandates.

The paper is available at http://www.i2i.org/articles/IP_8_2009_a.pdf

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