Last week Pols ran a story about a new poll from The Tarrance Group, a GOP polling outfit, which found that 55% of voters want TABOR repealed. Breaking down further the poll found that 54% of the people in the Denver media market favor the repeal. Statewide 66% of Dems, 53% of Independents and 46% of Republicans professed support of the appeal.
Great news for people like myself who want to see our state be allowed to thrive after 17 years of TABOR induced strangulation, right? Unfortunately the poll demonstrates that voters are far more confused about the revenue issue than that one answer would appear to demonstrate.
I have a hard copy of the poll and 68% of those polled were in favor of "Requiring all fee increases by gov't to be approved by voters." Ouch. 65% of those in the Denver market approved of that statement, 83% of Republicans, 68% of Independents and 53% of Democrats.
It's not a shock that voters are confused about policy specifics but this is particularly bad. On one hand a majority approve of ditching TABOR, which requires all tax increases to be approved by a vote of the people. On the other hand, over 2/3rds want the people to have to approve any fee increases.
Maybe some of these people are taking a nuanced approach whereby they want control over the fees that impact their day to day transactions while being okay with the legislature and governor increasing, for example, personal income taxes? Somehow I doubt that the public is taking such a nuanced approach, my guess is that they are just plain confused.
The poll demonstrates that solid messaging from Democrats for many years now about the evils of TABOR seems to have entered into the psyche of the average voter, if only a superficial level. But the fees question demonstrates that voters still prefer the "vote of the people" before government tries to raise revenue. It's mixed bag at best.
1 comment:
A few possibilities.
1. They may not like local TABOR. Most local governments have deBruced. Support in places like Colorado Springs may lead to the recognition that they need to also.
2. People want to regulate policy changes not revenue changes. TABOR regulates both. They want to vote on changes in income tax rates, not approval to spend money that existing taxes and fees raise.
3. Some fees feel like taxes, some don't. Few people would like of tuition as a user's fee, even though that is precisely what it is. Many people think of DMV fees as a tax, even though they are formally treated as user's fees (in part anyway).
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