Centennial Institute
Centennial Review
Colorado Christian University
8787 W. Alameda Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80226
Return Service Requested
Centennial Review
June 2010
Tax Limitation:
The Time Is Now
By Douglas Bruce
Why limit taxes? To protect free-
dom. God wants us to be free. But WESTERN CONSERVATIVE SUMMIT  July 9-11  Denver Marriott South
liberty rests on self-discipline. The Centennial Institute invites you to Colorado for our first annual leadership
TABOR amendment in Colorado conference on setting America right. Keynoters include Michele Bachmann,
has global relevance. Dick Morris, Dennis Prager, Arthur Brooks, and Gen. Jerry Boykin.
Register today at www.CentennialCCU.org or call 303.963.3424
campaign promises; limiting their ability to do so is the
solution. Specifically here in Colorado, some of us have two
priorities this year: bolstering the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights
against recent infringements and holding accountable the
judges who allowed those infringements.
 Three petitions to restore and reaffirm TABOR are on
our state’s 2010 ballot. Each promotes limited government,
the definition of freedom. They won't undo all the recent
damage, but they will fix illegal property-tax increases, debt
abuses, and car-registration hikes. Details and an opportunity
to volunteer are online at www.COtaxreforms.com.
 Four justices of the Colorado Supreme Court are also
on the ballot for new 10-year terms. It is they who twisted
TABOR, allowed higher property-tax rates, signaled acceptance
of a $250 million car-registration tax increase, and approved
unconstitutional debt under different names. A campaign is
underway to retire them; see www.ClearTheBenchColorado.org.
Said Ronald Reagan: “Government is not the solution to our
problems; government is the problem.” And from the other
party, hear Adlai Stevenson: “Patriotism is not short, frenzied
outbursts of emotion, but the quiet and steady dedication of
a lifetime.”
Centennial Review, June 2010 ▪ 4
Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute
Volume 2, Number 5 • June 2010
TAX LIMITATION:
THE TIME IS NOW
By Douglas Bruce
Editor’s Note: Coloradans were farsighted when they imposed
the nation’s toughest tax limitation almost two decades ago.
The dangers of unrestrained taxing, spending, and borrowing
are dramatized by the fiscal emergencies now unfolding from
California to New York to Greece. In a Patriots’ Day lecture
for the Centennial Institute on April 19, 2010, the man who
designed Colorado’s fiscal restraints talked about the principles
involved and the lessons to be learned.
Why should taxes be limited? To
protect freedom. Taxation invokes a
choice between self-government and
collectivist control. The more you can
“vote” for goods and services with
your own dollars, the more free you
are. When taxation is 50 percent,
you are half-enslaved.
To conclude: One percent of the people make things
happen; another four percent watch things happen; and 95 Abraham Lincoln said, “This nation cannot endure
percent ask, “What happened?” Where do you belong? ■ permanently, half slave and half free.” That applies to
1
Data in the paragraph on page 3 reflect nominal dollars. When adjusted individuals, not just societies or classes. I know in my heart,
for inflation and population growth within the respective time frames, the God wants us to be free.
increases have been approximately 80% for total state spending, 63% for
income-tax revenue, and 21% for property-tax revenue. - Editor Economists since Adam Smith have agreed: Taxes should
be low, clear, simple, uniform, fair, and competitive. They
$6 should not overly burden individuals, families, or free
TABOR Does Not Starve Government $5.4 markets. Coping with irrational and convoluted tax codes
Colorado General Fund, 1992-2009 is itself a tax on our time and assets. Taxes should not be a
$5 $4.8
major factor in our personal or business decisions.
$4.3
$4.0 $4.0
Taxes should not be regressive, progressive, or aimed
$4
$3.6 $3.7 at behavior control. They should not distort economic
$3.5
$3.3 $3.3 decisions. They should be neutral and not pick economic
$3 $2.8 winners and losers. The impossibility of central planning is
$2.5 shown in the failure of command-and-control economies
$2.3
$2.1 such as the Soviet Union and Communist China.
$2 $1.9
Free markets will reward work and innovation, and punish
bad decisions. That is the divine law of compensation: You
$1 generally get out of life what you put into it. A wise observer
once wrote, “Liberty is the luxury of self-discipline.”
$0 As a bulwark of liberty, tax limitation has moral, economic,
and political dimensions.
Publisher, William L. Armstrong
Editor, John Andrews
The Moral Dimension: True Charity
Charity is a moral impulse for personal giving. Tax-
supported welfare handouts can't be charity. I regard them
as more akin to stealing, in violation of Exodus 20:15.
Tithing is a religious practice of giving 10 percent to help
your church or other good works. If 10 percent is good
enough for God, it’s good enough for government.
The Right reveres God; the Left worships government.
Scripture for the former is the Holy Bible; for the latter, it is
the Internal Revenue Code. The atheist Karl Marx co-wrote
the Communist Manifesto, which urged in 1848, “From
each according to his ability; to each according to his need.”
But people have limited ability and unlimited “needs.” Marx
didn't grasp basic economics or human nature. The wiser
axiom is, “From each according to his need (his ambition); to each
according to his ability (to produce).”
Or as Saint Paul put it: “If a man will not work, he shall not
eat...Some among you are idle....Such people we command...
to settle down and earn the bread they eat” (II Thes. 3:10-
12). Government thinks everything belongs to government;
it lets us retain a bit so we will keep working and paying
taxes. Yet Jesus taught otherwise: “Render therefore unto
Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the
things that are God's” (Matt. 22:21). Jesus also gave us the
assurance of John 8:32: “Ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.”
The Economic Dimension: Incentives
Everyone knows the first law of economics—supply and
demand. The second law says, “If you want more of
something, subsidize it; if you want less, tax it.” Taxes are a
big part of any economy, and dominate economic decisions.
Government control—in its forms of taxation, fees, and
regulations—now exceeds 40 percent of the economy,
moving steadily towards half. That is dangerous. If most
people ever depend on government for their income and
Douglas Bruce, of Colorado Springs, is one of America's leading taxpayer advo-
cates. He authored the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights in 1988 and led its passage into
the Colorado Constitution in 1992. He is a former county commissioner and state
legislator. He graduated from Pomona College and the University of Southern
California Law School.
Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation.
By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizen-
ship, and renew the spirit of 1776.
 survival, we will have passed the tipping point and be unable money to be self-sufficient, and Big Brother taxes your
to reverse course. As French economist Frederic Bastiat said, bank interest, even if it is below inflation rates. You're also
“Government is the great fiction through which everybody taxed to pay health care, retirement, and other living costs
endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” that freeloaders refuse to pay for themselves.
Today, federal income tax collections from the top 1 percent Government loves to control personal behavior via taxes.
of income earners exceed 40 percent. The top 5 percent Smoking is heavily taxed. This year, Colorado began to tax
pay 60 percent; the top 10 percent pay 73 percent. The candy and soda pop. It plans to tax French fries, cookies,
bottom 50 percent of income earners pay under 3 percent. and other food linked to obesity. They want to control your
This does not include state output and your intake!
and local taxes. “Soaking the The top one percent of Government insures seashore homes against
rich” even more won't work. earners pay 40 percent hurricanes, so people keep rebuilding in coastal
Picture an inverted pyramid,
areas. It pays “cash for clunkers.” It offers low-cost
with one corner teetering at of income taxes. flood insurance. Buying inflated loans from banks
the bottom, trying to sustain all the weight. Ayn Rand's helps buyers of overpriced houses put no money down,
epic novel, Atlas Shrugged, predicted wealth-producers then face foreclosure, default, and buy another house (with
would rebel against such exploitation and stop carrying the an $8,000 cash credit). When people shoot themselves in
weight of society on their shoulders. the foot, count on government to offer them more bullets.
Taxes now subsidize unemployment, promiscuity, indolence,
On the other hand, government dislikes business and rich
debt, risky acts, lack of insurance, and bad health habits. people because they are competing sources of power, not
Not working? Get a check. Making babies by a parade of dependent on government. Big Brother wants infinite
one-night stands? Get a check. Staying in college for 10 dependents. As a screen actor in the 1940s, Ronald Reagan
years? Get a check. Mortgaged up to your neck? Deduct it
and others protested the 91 percent top federal income-tax
from income taxes. Drink like a fish, smoke like a chimney, rate. President Kennedy brought that down to 70 percent
inject illegal drugs, hang-glide into a cliff ? Government
and the economy began to grow. As president, Reagan
pays all your costs, and offers spending money besides. lowered the top rate to 28 percent, and triggered eight
Big Brother's Backward Priorities years of prosperity. George H.W. Bush broke his tax pledge
and America went into a recession. Our incentive to work
Government punishes work, and not only by income tax.
Have a job? Employers pay tax for those who don't work. declines with the rise of tax rates. People will work less as
taxes rise; they will sit back and let Big Brother support
They pay unproductive people money they could have paid
you, so it's really a work tax, not an “unemployment tax.” them with money taken from “the rich.” Sadly, that is now
our official national policy.
Have a job in Denver? You and your boss both pay an
“occupational privilege” tax for what you foolishly thought The Political Dimension: Who Decides?
was your right to be in the job market. The essence of politics is who decides government policy.
Invest in technology to boost productivity, and pay taxes In our successful 1992 campaign when the Taxpayer’s Bill of
on phones, business equipment (both sales and annual Rights (TABOR) finally became law, I asked voters a simple
ownership taxes), and vehicles (double-taxed, too). Save question: “Who should decide how much government
we can afford—We the People who earn the money, or
the politicians who want to spend it?” More than 800,000
citizens shouted for freedom and rejected tyranny. Despite
the Left's political blather about consumer rights and
consumer power, they refuse to admit that citizens are the
consumers of government and have the moral, economic,
and political right to set its price.
CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at
Colorado Christian University. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin
Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787
W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at
www.CentennialCCU.org.
Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial
donor, you can help us restore America’s moral core and prepare
tomorrow’s leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the
envelope provided. Thank you for your support.
- John Andrews, Director
Centennial Review, June 2010 ▪ 2
Our glorious Constitution is a document with one main
goal—to limit government power. Cowardly or corrupt
judges and politicians have twisted its noble words and curbs
on governmental tyranny into a dead letter. We have been
betrayed. Tax limits are a practical way to curb illegitimate
expansions of power.
America began with a tax revolt. Tax limits reform
government policy. Government has two great powers:
to legislate and to confiscate. Tax limits control the latter,
which directly affects the ability of politicians to legislate
and fund new regulatory programs or entitlements.
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights: Then and Now
Colorado politicians had plenty of warning before the
Taxpayer's Bill of Rights passed; it was the ninth try in 26
years. Our tax revolt started with a 1966 ballot issue. That
was followed by ones in 1972 and 1976, then a pair in 1978,
and ultimately four in a row, 1986-1992.
The two major principles of TABOR (Article X, Section
20, of the Colorado Constitution) are that (1) only voters
may approve an increase in debt, tax rates, or new taxes, and
(2) the rate of growth of specified government revenue is
limited, and excess revenue must be refunded unless voters
allow government to keep it. Other provisions include
election rules, a ban on some types of taxes, and requiring
an emergency reserve.
TABOR does not starve government. State charts show
that total state spending was $3.4 billion in 1984 and will
be $19.6 billion in the next fiscal year. That's a 476 percent
increase. It has never declined. State income-tax revenue
zoomed from $700 million in 1982 to about $4.6 billion
in 2009, a 557% increase. Property-tax revenue has risen
164% since TABOR passed. It has also never declined.1
TABOR's purpose is not to cut taxes, but to “reasonably
restrain most the growth of government.” TABOR
empowers voters to decide whether they want state and
local government to take a bigger share of the economy
than it does now.
Yet in 2007, the legislature raised school property taxes by
changing state limits without voter approval; the courts
shrugged. This will cost taxpayers billions very soon. In
2009, the legislature raised car taxes $250 million per year,
again without voter approval. Doubling the registration
“fee” to more than $50 for a process that costs a county
clerk $4 to perform was dishonest and illegal.
The response of liberals (progressives, collectivists,
socialists) is to insist that recent government spending has
been “cut.” It has not. They claim that any lower rate of
increase than what they wanted is a cut. Don't believe them;
remember John 8:32.
Vo i c e s o f C C U
ECONOMIC LITERACY
IS NOT OPTIONAL
By Ron Rex
Business strategies seek the sustainabil-
ity of the firm. As citizens, shouldn’t we
also consider the sustainability of our
whole economy? Many Americans today
cannot sustain payments on their credit
cards and home loans. Yet prescriptions
for re-energizing our economic growth
call for more consumer spending. And
most voters are not economically literate
enough to see the growing danger.
Economic literacy leads to good choices on how to use
money. Economic illiteracy leads to catastrophe. Greece
was a seemingly stable country with comprehensive en-
titlements for a high standard of living. But always when
the people were asked who would fund these provisions,
everybody assumed it would be someone else: Illiteracy
in spades. Now it’s all collapsing.
The free lunch magically enhancing our lifestyle is seduc-
tive but illogical. It mocks sustainability. No government
can indefinitely provide for its citizens all of the resources
they desire. At some point the books have to balance or
the firm (regime) goes broke.
Economic literacy teaches us that provision of the es-
sentials of life is not the role of government; it is the role
of mankind. Government attempting to be the provider
of all things leads to individuals becoming weak and
disclaiming responsibility for anything. After that comes
social chaos.
Disaster ensues from the wishful thinking that expects
some mythical “others” to provide for us. That’s why
logical reasoning and economic literacy are integral to the
curriculum at Colorado Christian University. ■
Ron Rex is associate professor of management
in the School of Business at Colorado Christian Centennial
University. A former Fortune 500 executive, he runs
Institute
two companies in addition to his teaching. He holds Colorado Christian University
degrees in psychology from Xavier University and
Northern Kentucky State University.
Make Things Happen
The challenge in Colorado or any other state is not merely
to complain about burdensome taxes and constitutional
erosion, but to stop them. Get involved. Make the world a
better place than when you found it. Tell the incumbents:
“Don't just do something; stand there.”
My advice to taxpayer advocates is not to waste time on
politicians. Change the system, not the faces. Support the
rule of law, not of men. Fight for integrity, not individuals.
Push principles, not personalities. Demand freedom, not
free lunches. All elected officials are tempted to break
Centennial Review, June 2010 ▪ 3
 survival, we will have passed the tipping point and be unable money to be self-sufficient, and Big Brother taxes your
to reverse course. As French economist Frederic Bastiat said, bank interest, even if it is below inflation rates. You're also
“Government is the great fiction through which everybody taxed to pay health care, retirement, and other living costs
endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” that freeloaders refuse to pay for themselves.
Today, federal income tax collections from the top 1 percent Government loves to control personal behavior via taxes.
of income earners exceed 40 percent. The top 5 percent Smoking is heavily taxed. This year, Colorado began to tax
pay 60 percent; the top 10 percent pay 73 percent. The candy and soda pop. It plans to tax French fries, cookies,
bottom 50 percent of income earners pay under 3 percent. and other food linked to obesity. They want to control your
This does not include state output and your intake!
and local taxes. “Soaking the The top one percent of Government insures seashore homes against
rich” even more won't work. earners pay 40 percent hurricanes, so people keep rebuilding in coastal
Picture an inverted pyramid,
with one corner teetering at of income taxes. areas. It pays “cash for clunkers.” It offers low-cost
flood insurance. Buying inflated loans from banks
the bottom, trying to sustain all the weight. Ayn Rand's helps buyers of overpriced houses put no money down,
epic novel, Atlas Shrugged, predicted wealth-producers then face foreclosure, default, and buy another house (with
would rebel against such exploitation and stop carrying the an $8,000 cash credit). When people shoot themselves in
weight of society on their shoulders. the foot, count on government to offer them more bullets.
Taxes now subsidize unemployment, promiscuity, indolence,
On the other hand, government dislikes business and rich
debt, risky acts, lack of insurance, and bad health habits. people because they are competing sources of power, not
Not working? Get a check. Making babies by a parade of dependent on government. Big Brother wants infinite
one-night stands? Get a check. Staying in college for 10 dependents. As a screen actor in the 1940s, Ronald Reagan
years? Get a check. Mortgaged up to your neck? Deduct it
and others protested the 91 percent top federal income-tax
from income taxes. Drink like a fish, smoke like a chimney, rate. President Kennedy brought that down to 70 percent
inject illegal drugs, hang-glide into a cliff ? Government
and the economy began to grow. As president, Reagan
pays all your costs, and offers spending money besides. lowered the top rate to 28 percent, and triggered eight
Big Brother's Backward Priorities years of prosperity. George H.W. Bush broke his tax pledge
and America went into a recession. Our incentive to work
Government punishes work, and not only by income tax.
Have a job? Employers pay tax for those who don't work. declines with the rise of tax rates. People will work less as
taxes rise; they will sit back and let Big Brother support
They pay unproductive people money they could have paid
you, so it's really a work tax, not an “unemployment tax.” them with money taken from “the rich.” Sadly, that is now
our official national policy.
Have a job in Denver? You and your boss both pay an
“occupational privilege” tax for what you foolishly thought The Political Dimension: Who Decides?
was your right to be in the job market. The essence of politics is who decides government policy.
Invest in technology to boost productivity, and pay taxes In our successful 1992 campaign when the Taxpayer’s Bill of
on phones, business equipment (both sales and annual Rights (TABOR) finally became law, I asked voters a simple
ownership taxes), and vehicles (double-taxed, too). Save question: “Who should decide how much government
we can afford—We the People who earn the money, or
the politicians who want to spend it?” More than 800,000
citizens shouted for freedom and rejected tyranny. Despite
the Left's political blather about consumer rights and
consumer power, they refuse to admit that citizens are the
consumers of government and have the moral, economic,
and political right to set its price.
CENTENNIAL REVIEW is published monthly by the Centennial Institute at
Colorado Christian University. Designer, Danielle Hull. Illustrator, Benjamin
Hummel. Subscriptions free upon request. Write to: Centennial Institute, 8787
W. Alameda Ave., Lakewood, CO 80226. Call 800.44.FAITH. Or visit us online at
www.CentennialCCU.org.
Please join the Centennial Institute today. As a Centennial
donor, you can help us restore America’s moral core and prepare
tomorrow’s leaders. Your gift is tax-deductible. Please use the
envelope provided. Thank you for your support.
- John Andrews, Director
Centennial Review, June 2010 ▪ 2
Our glorious Constitution is a document with one main
goal—to limit government power. Cowardly or corrupt
judges and politicians have twisted its noble words and curbs
on governmental tyranny into a dead letter. We have been
betrayed. Tax limits are a practical way to curb illegitimate
expansions of power.
America began with a tax revolt. Tax limits reform
government policy. Government has two great powers:
to legislate and to confiscate. Tax limits control the latter,
which directly affects the ability of politicians to legislate
and fund new regulatory programs or entitlements.
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights: Then and Now
Colorado politicians had plenty of warning before the
Taxpayer's Bill of Rights passed; it was the ninth try in 26
years. Our tax revolt started with a 1966 ballot issue. That
was followed by ones in 1972 and 1976, then a pair in 1978,
and ultimately four in a row, 1986-1992.
The two major principles of TABOR (Article X, Section
20, of the Colorado Constitution) are that (1) only voters
may approve an increase in debt, tax rates, or new taxes, and
(2) the rate of growth of specified government revenue is
limited, and excess revenue must be refunded unless voters
allow government to keep it. Other provisions include
election rules, a ban on some types of taxes, and requiring
an emergency reserve.
TABOR does not starve government. State charts show
that total state spending was $3.4 billion in 1984 and will
be $19.6 billion in the next fiscal year. That's a 476 percent
increase. It has never declined. State income-tax revenue
zoomed from $700 million in 1982 to about $4.6 billion
in 2009, a 557% increase. Property-tax revenue has risen
164% since TABOR passed. It has also never declined.1
TABOR's purpose is not to cut taxes, but to “reasonably
restrain most the growth of government.” TABOR
empowers voters to decide whether they want state and
local government to take a bigger share of the economy
than it does now.
Yet in 2007, the legislature raised school property taxes by
changing state limits without voter approval; the courts
shrugged. This will cost taxpayers billions very soon. In
2009, the legislature raised car taxes $250 million per year,
again without voter approval. Doubling the registration
“fee” to more than $50 for a process that costs a county
clerk $4 to perform was dishonest and illegal.
The response of liberals (progressives, collectivists,
socialists) is to insist that recent government spending has
been “cut.” It has not. They claim that any lower rate of
increase than what they wanted is a cut. Don't believe them;
remember John 8:32.
Vo i c e s o f C C U
ECONOMIC LITERACY
IS NOT OPTIONAL
By Ron Rex
Business strategies seek the sustainabil-
ity of the firm. As citizens, shouldn’t we
also consider the sustainability of our
whole economy? Many Americans today
cannot sustain payments on their credit
cards and home loans. Yet prescriptions
for re-energizing our economic growth
call for more consumer spending. And
most voters are not economically literate
enough to see the growing danger.
Economic literacy leads to good choices on how to use
money. Economic illiteracy leads to catastrophe. Greece
was a seemingly stable country with comprehensive en-
titlements for a high standard of living. But always when
the people were asked who would fund these provisions,
everybody assumed it would be someone else: Illiteracy
in spades. Now it’s all collapsing.
The free lunch magically enhancing our lifestyle is seduc-
tive but illogical. It mocks sustainability. No government
can indefinitely provide for its citizens all of the resources
they desire. At some point the books have to balance or
the firm (regime) goes broke.
Economic literacy teaches us that provision of the es-
sentials of life is not the role of government; it is the role
of mankind. Government attempting to be the provider
of all things leads to individuals becoming weak and
disclaiming responsibility for anything. After that comes
social chaos.
Disaster ensues from the wishful thinking that expects
some mythical “others” to provide for us. That’s why
logical reasoning and economic literacy are integral to the
curriculum at Colorado Christian University. ■
Ron Rex is associate professor of management
in the School of Business at Colorado Christian Centennial
University. A former Fortune 500 executive, he runs
Institute
two companies in addition to his teaching. He holds Colorado Christian University
degrees in psychology from Xavier University and
Northern Kentucky State University.
Make Things Happen
The challenge in Colorado or any other state is not merely
to complain about burdensome taxes and constitutional
erosion, but to stop them. Get involved. Make the world a
better place than when you found it. Tell the incumbents:
“Don't just do something; stand there.”
My advice to taxpayer advocates is not to waste time on
politicians. Change the system, not the faces. Support the
rule of law, not of men. Fight for integrity, not individuals.
Push principles, not personalities. Demand freedom, not
free lunches. All elected officials are tempted to break
Centennial Review, June 2010 ▪ 3
 Centennial Institute
Colorado Christian University
8787 W. Alameda Ave.
Lakewood, CO 80226
Return Service Requested
Centennial Review
June 2010
Tax Limitation:
The Time Is Now
By Douglas Bruce
Why limit taxes? To protect free-
dom. God wants us to be free. But WESTERN CONSERVATIVE SUMMIT  July 9-11  Denver Marriott South
liberty rests on self-discipline. The Centennial Institute invites you to Colorado for our first annual leadership
TABOR amendment in Colorado conference on setting America right. Keynoters include Michele Bachmann,
has global relevance. Dick Morris, Dennis Prager, Arthur Brooks, and Gen. Jerry Boykin.
Register today at www.CentennialCCU.org or call 303.963.3424
campaign promises; limiting their ability to do so is the
solution. Specifically here in Colorado, some of us have two
priorities this year: bolstering the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights
against recent infringements and holding accountable the
judges who allowed those infringements.
 Three petitions to restore and reaffirm TABOR are on
our state’s 2010 ballot. Each promotes limited government,
the definition of freedom. They won't undo all the recent
damage, but they will fix illegal property-tax increases, debt
abuses, and car-registration hikes. Details and an opportunity
to volunteer are online at www.COtaxreforms.com.
 Four justices of the Colorado Supreme Court are also
on the ballot for new 10-year terms. It is they who twisted
TABOR, allowed higher property-tax rates, signaled acceptance
of a $250 million car-registration tax increase, and approved
unconstitutional debt under different names. A campaign is
underway to retire them; see www.ClearTheBenchColorado.org.
Said Ronald Reagan: “Government is not the solution to our
problems; government is the problem.” And from the other
party, hear Adlai Stevenson: “Patriotism is not short, frenzied
outbursts of emotion, but the quiet and steady dedication of
a lifetime.”
Centennial Review, June 2010 ▪ 4
Centennial Review
Principled Ideas from the Centennial Institute
Volume 2, Number 5 • June 2010
TAX LIMITATION:
THE TIME IS NOW
By Douglas Bruce
Editor’s Note: Coloradans were farsighted when they imposed
the nation’s toughest tax limitation almost two decades ago.
The dangers of unrestrained taxing, spending, and borrowing
are dramatized by the fiscal emergencies now unfolding from
California to New York to Greece. In a Patriots’ Day lecture
for the Centennial Institute on April 19, 2010, the man who
designed Colorado’s fiscal restraints talked about the principles
involved and the lessons to be learned.
Why should taxes be limited? To
protect freedom. Taxation invokes a
choice between self-government and
collectivist control. The more you can
“vote” for goods and services with
your own dollars, the more free you
are. When taxation is 50 percent,
you are half-enslaved.
To conclude: One percent of the people make things
happen; another four percent watch things happen; and 95 Abraham Lincoln said, “This nation cannot endure
percent ask, “What happened?” Where do you belong? ■ permanently, half slave and half free.” That applies to
1
Data in the paragraph on page 3 reflect nominal dollars. When adjusted individuals, not just societies or classes. I know in my heart,
for inflation and population growth within the respective time frames, the God wants us to be free.
increases have been approximately 80% for total state spending, 63% for
income-tax revenue, and 21% for property-tax revenue. - Editor Economists since Adam Smith have agreed: Taxes should
be low, clear, simple, uniform, fair, and competitive. They
$6 should not overly burden individuals, families, or free
TABOR Does Not Starve Government $5.4 markets. Coping with irrational and convoluted tax codes
Colorado General Fund, 1992-2009 is itself a tax on our time and assets. Taxes should not be a
$5 $4.8
major factor in our personal or business decisions.
$4.3
$4.0 $4.0
Taxes should not be regressive, progressive, or aimed
$4
$3.6 $3.7 at behavior control. They should not distort economic
$3.5
$3.3 $3.3 decisions. They should be neutral and not pick economic
$3 $2.8 winners and losers. The impossibility of central planning is
$2.5 shown in the failure of command-and-control economies
$2.3
$2.1 such as the Soviet Union and Communist China.
$2 $1.9
Free markets will reward work and innovation, and punish
bad decisions. That is the divine law of compensation: You
$1 generally get out of life what you put into it. A wise observer
once wrote, “Liberty is the luxury of self-discipline.”
$0 As a bulwark of liberty, tax limitation has moral, economic,
and political dimensions.
Publisher, William L. Armstrong
Editor, John Andrews
The Moral Dimension: True Charity
Charity is a moral impulse for personal giving. Tax-
supported welfare handouts can't be charity. I regard them
as more akin to stealing, in violation of Exodus 20:15.
Tithing is a religious practice of giving 10 percent to help
your church or other good works. If 10 percent is good
enough for God, it’s good enough for government.
The Right reveres God; the Left worships government.
Scripture for the former is the Holy Bible; for the latter, it is
the Internal Revenue Code. The atheist Karl Marx co-wrote
the Communist Manifesto, which urged in 1848, “From
each according to his ability; to each according to his need.”
But people have limited ability and unlimited “needs.” Marx
didn't grasp basic economics or human nature. The wiser
axiom is, “From each according to his need (his ambition); to each
according to his ability (to produce).”
Or as Saint Paul put it: “If a man will not work, he shall not
eat...Some among you are idle....Such people we command...
to settle down and earn the bread they eat” (II Thes. 3:10-
12). Government thinks everything belongs to government;
it lets us retain a bit so we will keep working and paying
taxes. Yet Jesus taught otherwise: “Render therefore unto
Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the
things that are God's” (Matt. 22:21). Jesus also gave us the
assurance of John 8:32: “Ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free.”
The Economic Dimension: Incentives
Everyone knows the first law of economics—supply and
demand. The second law says, “If you want more of
something, subsidize it; if you want less, tax it.” Taxes are a
big part of any economy, and dominate economic decisions.
Government control—in its forms of taxation, fees, and
regulations—now exceeds 40 percent of the economy,
moving steadily towards half. That is dangerous. If most
people ever depend on government for their income and
Douglas Bruce, of Colorado Springs, is one of America's leading taxpayer advo-
cates. He authored the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights in 1988 and led its passage into
the Colorado Constitution in 1992. He is a former county commissioner and state
legislator. He graduated from Pomona College and the University of Southern
California Law School.
Centennial Institute sponsors research, events, and publications to enhance
public understanding of the most important issues facing our state and nation.
By proclaiming Truth, we aim to foster faith, family, and freedom, teach citizen-
ship, and renew the spirit of 1776.