Letter to the Editor

Your view: Oppose cap

Monday, May 15, 2006

Missourians Should Not Support Petition to Place a Cap on Funding

As the former chair of the Budget Committee in the Colorado Legislature, I urge Missouri voters not to support a proposed Constitutional Amendment - called Article 14 - which would be extremely harmful to your state. The Article 14 proposal is the same as Colorado's so-called "Taxpayer's Bill of Rights" or TABOR. Both place a cap on funding for critical services such as education, health care, public safety and capital construction.

Last November, Colorado citizens voted to suspend our TABOR cap for five years. If this TABOR suspension had not passed, the state would have to cut over $350 million from its general fund budget. Higher education would have born the brunt of maintenance. Over 1100 organizations endorsed suspending the TABOR limit, including most of the state's business community.

TABOR was a proven failure in Colorado. Don't make the same mistake in Missouri. Between now and May 7, you may be asked to sign a petition supporting the Article 14 Constitutional Amendment. If you care about the quality of life in Missouri and ensuring a strong, healthy economy, don't sign the Article 14 petition. Learn from our mistake - you don't want to live with the consequence of this measure as we have in Colorado for the past 13 years.

A broad-based coalition "Partners to Protect Missouri's Future" is opposed to Article 14. Visit their website for more information: www.protectmo.org.

Brad Young

Former Republican Chairman of the

Joint Budget Committee

Lamar, Colo.