http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2005/01/31/editorial3.htmlGuest Comment
Moody's report a red flag on TABORJack Norman
The Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) anti-tax movement is a danger to the credit ratings of Wisconsin cities, villages and towns.
So says Moody's Investor Services, the credit-rating giant whose judgments determine the interest rates local governments pay to borrow money. A new Moody's report says "surging anti-tax sentiment" is the top challenge to the credit-worthiness of Wisconsin municipalities.
This is an alert flag to anyone tempted by TABOR. TABOR, which is based on a Colorado policy with that name, would impose strict revenue limits on state and local governments. Republican legislators are fiddling with various ways to word the proposed restrictions, which would limit revenue growth to inflation and some function of income or population growth.
TABOR supporters say it would rein in spending and strengthen the state's business climate by ensuring low taxes. But the Moody's analysis -- a politics-free assessment of economic reality -- makes clear that TABOR would be bad for business.
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http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion//index.php?ntid=26808&ntpid=2Editorial By Rep. Frank Lasee (R)
February 1, 2005
Earlier this month, I wrote a column about TABOR's enduring popularity in Colorado, the first state to enact a constitutional amendment of that kind.
In response, Zweifel writes in his Jan. 21 column: "Maybe there's something in the water up there in Brown County, because Frank Lasee doesn't know what he's talking about."
Let's take a look. In his column, Zweifel says schools in Colorado went into "steep decline" because TABOR didn't allow them enough money. This is false. According to the National Education Association:
• Colorado's student/teacher ratio fell from 18.5 students per teacher to 17.3 in six years following enactment of TABOR - including the recession years.
• The staff/student ratio fell from 9.7 students per staff member to 8.7 (Wisconsin's fell from 9.1 to 8.1).
• They built over a hundred new schools during that time.
• Colorado's students have shown far more improvement on National Assessment of Educational Progress exams than Wisconsin's. In fact, on fourth-grade reading tests, Colorado students outperformed Wisconsin's in 2003.
In decline? They're improving faster than we are.
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I can't wait for Dave Zweifel to counter this one. Apparently Lasee is the new GOPpie TABOR front man. Everywhere I turn he seems to be talking it up. I'm gathering ammo to take to TABOR forums happening in my area. Kind of looking forward to the challenge of stringing up a few pukes.
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