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I was all set to be wholeheartedly opposed to Amendment 6, the tax limitation measure. Then I discovered Amendment 6 is also opposed by the Colorado Association of School Boards, the Colorado Association of Realtors, the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, and various other organizations that have never, in living memory, had my best interests in mind.
When a ballot proposal gathers enemies like that, it's worth another look.
We hear that if Amendment 6 passes, school districts will be forced to increase class sizes, reduce programs and cancel several weeks of scheduled classes. Not just Colorado's educational system, but its highways and parks, will deteriorate.
It is tempting to ask, How could anyone tell?
,
but it is more pertinent to wonder if the school districts,
for one, are using the Washington Monument
Trick.
Here's how it works. Whenever the National Park Service is threatened with a severe budget cut, the Park Service announces that the resulting constrained finances will force it to shut the Washington Monument.
Closing such a popular attraction would cause a tremendous public outcry. Congress is sensitive to public outcries; no representative or senator, no matter how tight-fisted, wants to be known for casting the vote that closed the Washington Monument. Thus the Park Service gets the appropriation it wants.
Now consider the dire consequences of Amendment 6, as forecast by various school districts. Some neighborhood schools would be closed. Special programs would be eliminated. Double sessions are a possibility. Athletic programs face cancellation. Perhaps 40 scheduled days of school might be eliminated, because the district won't have enough in the till to pay the utilities and the staff.
They're hitting where it hurts when they tell us the
possible consequences of Amendment 6. Note that the schools
never predict anything like Our entire holistic
appreciation curriculum will be eliminated,
or
Several dozen deputy assistant superintendents will be
forced to go find honest work.
With the Washington Monument Trick, anything that a reasonable taxpayer might favor keeping is threatened with elimination, and anything that a reasonable taxpayer would like to eliminate is retained.
After all, the administrators of our schools, highway system and other agencies of government are only human. When they draw up budgets, the first priority is making sure that they themselves get paid. I'd do the same thing myself, and if you're any different, someone should contact the Vatican on your behalf to offer you as a candidate for sainthood.
Therein lies the major problem with Amendment 6. Let us presume that a school district (or the highway department, or a municipal government) fritters away $20 of every $100 it receives; the other $80 goes to useful public services.
The Amendment 6 approach is to whack out that $20, so that only $80 comes in. Thus is waste eliminated.
However, that is mere wishful thinking, because the same people will still draw up the budgets and administer them. The $20 still vanishes, and only $60 remains to perform any service to the taxpayers.
Sure, taxes go down a bit, but the waste is still present -- in fact, it's a bigger proportion (25 percent) of the budget than it was before (20 percent). And the services that got zapped are very likely the services that you most need, on account of the Washington Monument Trick and the tendency of governmental officials to keep their word at those times when you'd be better off if they didn't.
The other problem with Amendment 6 is that the state government and our local governments really aren't that wasteful. Just one mild offense -- remember the loafing Denver street crew last winter? -- and there's an uproar. We all keep close tabs on governmental spending when it's close to home.
It is the federal government which spends money all over the planet, much of it in secret and unaccountable ways, and it is federal taxes that take the biggest bite out of your income and mine.
If the Amendment 6 people were sincerely trying to help us, they'd be taking on the real enemy. Instead, they're just bullies, picking on the easy targets.
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