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	Understand the Truth: Read the Amendment
	Coalition for Ohio's Future

Join the fight to oppose TABOR

TABOR IS BAD FOR OHIO’S KIDS

TABOR (“Tax Payer’s Bill of Rights”) is a proposed constitutional amendment in Ohio that would limit the growth of state and local spending to a highly restrictive formula — the annual change in population plus inflation. Also known as a TEL (Taxation and Expenditure Limitation), TABOR would restrict the amount of revenue that can be spent on state and local services—from health care to education to transportation.

TABOR would be especially bad for Ohio’s kids. Once in place, TABOR would control growth in the overall size of the budget and force programs and people within the budget to compete for ever-shrinking dollars.

TABOR will stifle Ohio’s ability to handle new challenges or new opportunities for Ohio’s children and their families. TABOR would mean that Ohio could not deal with new challenges that no one can anticipate—things like national and state security or West Nile Virus--without taking resources away from other priorities. And, Ohio could not take full advantage of opportunities like new technology or new programs. If TABOR had been in place in 1998 when Congress gave states the authority and matching funds to expand health insurance for children in working families (CHIP), Ohio would not have been able to participate without cutting other priority programs.

TABOR ignores the real cost of state services for children and their families. Statewide population growth and overall inflation are not accurate measures of the cost of state services. For example, between 1996 – 2002, the number of Ohio’s special education students grew an average of 19.5% annually and Ohio’s prison population grew 2.3% annually, but Ohio’s overall population increased 0.3% annually. When one portion of the budget grows faster than everything else, the other portions get squeezed. TABOR would mean Ohio would have to cut services for children like health care, safety, and education, in order to meet these growing needs.

TABOR locks in the bad times and means our children will fall behind. In “Year 2” the state gets to spend what it spent in “Year 1” plus inflation plus population. When revenues are growing, so are spending limits. When revenues decline, the state must make PERMANENT cuts and cannot catch-up to prior limits—even when the economy recovers again. This means that when Ohio has the dollars to invest further in children again—by expanding health care for children in working families, by helping school districts hire more teachers to reduce class size, by improving the quality of child care so more Ohio children start school ready to learn—we could not.

TABOR will harm local governments that play an important role in the daily life of children. All of Ohio’s local political subdivisions—counties, cities, villages, zoos, libraries, children’s services boards, school districts, etc.—are subject to TABOR. They will receive less money from the state and have more costs shifted to them. The result will be cuts in services and programs that families rely upon—like public swimming pools, parks and recreation centers, libraries, health clinics, protective services--and increases in fees.

TABOR won’t solve the problems its supporters say it will. TABOR does not address the underlying challenges of running an efficient & effective government. TABOR does not make the tax structure more equitable, politicians more accountable or jobs more plentiful. Instead, TABOR would severely damage the state economy while simultaneously harming basic services like education, health care, and public safety.

TABOR has been bad for Colorado’s children and would be bad for Ohio’s children. Colorado adopted TABOR in 1992. Since then, they have fallen from being ranked in the middle on key indicators of child well-being to being in the bottom, including dead last on childhood immunizations. A recent analysis found that if Ohio had adopted TABOR 10 years ago, it would have meant $19 billion less in state funding for things like K-12 education and health care for our kids. That would have meant literally thousands of teachers being laid off and one in three children under the age of 5 being removed from Ohio’s health insurance program for children. (check source)

TABOR is in trouble in Colorado, the only state to enact TABOR to date. Colorado has damaged Colorado so badly that a bipartisan coalition of political, business and community leaders—including many original supporters from when it passed in 1992-- are campaigning to dramatically change it through a ballot initiative in Fall 2005. Why would Ohio want to adopt a proven failure?

For more information on TABOR, visit www.ohiosfuture.org.