by John Orr
Coloradans elect John Hickenlooper
What fun it was watching the election season last year. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper won the chance to deal with Colorado’s fiscal vise grip – TABOR, Amendment 23 and the Gallagher Amendment. The three constitutional amendments essentially tie the hands of the legislature and governor when they try to deal with funding allocation.
TABOR – the Taxpayer Bill of Rights – mandates that all tax increases be approved by the voters, which of course seldom happens. It also limits the growth in the distribution of revenues to a fixed percentage each year with the mandate that excess revenues be returned to taxpayers.
