Why we need TABOR.

We need TABOR because it is easier to not spend than to cut spending.

One of the most common philosophical complaints against the TABOR is that WE choose our elected officials we must trust them. After all if we did not trust them then we would not elect them.

Ahhh, okay then I will from this point unhesitatingly support whatever our elected officials want to do because our election of them means we completely trust them.

Uhhh, not even close.

Let us return to Civics 101. Our government is built upon a fundamental distrust (do not confuse a healthy mistrust with a paranoid distrust) of government and those in government. Not because we think those in government are crooked but because of the tempatations that come with power. People in government are flawed individuals and the Founding Fathers realized this so they built the government with a system of checks and balances. I may trust the person I vote for but not necessarily the man that wins the office.

The Wisconsin Constitution mandates a balanced budget. The constitution does not indicate its favorite way to keep the budget in balance. Raise taxes or cut spending. The TABOR is to give the constitution a bias in favor of controlled spending.

The TABOR is a check upon government's power to spend and in Wisconsin that means a check upon government's power to tax.