Research: Sustainable Colorado Budget to Help Eliminate State Income Taxes

Originally published at Independence Institute. 

​In 1992, Colorado voters adopted the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) to limit the growth in state and local spending. Over the past three decades, however, politicians from both parties and a complicit judicial branch have exempted more and more state spending from the TABOR limit. When voters adopted TABOR, 67% of state spending was subject to the limit. Today, the majority of state spending is not subject to the limit. Consequently, state spending has far outpaced Coloradans’ incomes over the last decade.

To uphold the original intent of voters when they adopted TABOR, Independence Institute proposes the Sustainable Colorado Budget (SCB), which limits state spending from state funds (excluding federal funds) at the rate of population growth plus inflation. The state should then use the surplus revenue above the SCB spending limit to reduce the income tax rate for all taxpayers.