Earlier this morning, members of the House Committee on Government approved the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) bill, which is a constitutional measure that would impose a crippling and arbitrary formula to determine how much we spend on key investments. TABOR would force huge, annual cuts to education, public safety, health care, and other key services that support our economy and quality of life.

TABOR is a solution in search of a problem. North Carolina already has a limit on General Fund spending tied to the projected total state personal income. This limit is tied to what North Carolinians can afford and the health of the economy, preventing expenditures from rising rapidly. But unlike TABOR, it allows North Carolina to regain ground lost during the recession so we can avoid permanent damage to our most important assets. TABOR would lock in the extremely low-levels of spending that have resulted from the Great Recession and harmed our schools, roads, and communities and hampered our ability to recover from the economic downturn. Read More…