AFT President Edward J. McElroy on Vote in Colorado to Suspend TABOR Revenue Limits for Five Years

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Colorado voters sent a clear message yesterday: High-quality public services matter and are essential to the health, safety, education and prosperity of Colorado citizens. Their vote was also a harsh indictment of the state’s unworkable, so-called Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) law, and an important victory for good government.

Referendum C passed with the strong backing of a broad coalition of labor and business groups, Democrats and Republicans. What united these supporters was the stark realization that TABOR was crippling state services and undermining Colorado’s future growth and prosperity. In endorsing this view, Colorado citizens cast a decisive vote for public safety, first-class schools and colleges, and vital healthcare services.

Yesterday’s vote also sends a message to other states contemplating TABOR-like proposals: Buyer beware. States no longer have to guess about TABOR’s corrosive long-term impact. It has been a proven failure in Colorado, with devastating consequences for families and children, schools and students, the poor and elderly. We urge policymakers in other states to look at these facts and not venture down the same troubled path. Instead, states should move forward with the critical investments in high-quality public services that Americans want and deserve.

The AFT represents 1.3 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; nurses and healthcare workers; and federal, state and local government employees.