Rocky Mountain High
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 By David Hansen
The Denver Post reports that Colorado politicians are bent on evading or simply over-riding the state’s constitutional Taxpayer Bill of Rights (aka TABOR or TEL here in Ohio). Writer John Andrews asked my opinion of what’s at risk if Coloradans acquiesce to these moves:
“Watch out, Colorado. Without TABOR you could end up like Ohio,” warns David Hansen of the Buckeye Institute in Columbus. He describes a “generation-long spending spree” that has turned their low-tax, high-growth state into one with high taxes and no growth, “totally uncompetitive in the 21st century.”
Despite our national march toward socialism, government has nothing to give that it hasn’t first taken away from the private sector. Growing government can only come at the cost of the private sector. Colorado’s TABOR limited the growth of government and as a result, it is a state with jobs, growth and prosperity.
You know, the things we used to have here in Ohio when our government was limited and not crowding out private investment, innovation, enterprise and the jobs and prosperity they create. In technical terms, what we had when our tax burden was 48th-ranked in the nation instead of 7th as it is today.
Consider as well how Colorado offers mountains, rivers you can drink from, sunshine and skiing, and yet the ticket price for living and working there is a tax burden ranked just 34th. Is any wonder I take my girls out skiing every chance I get?
