Those against the Taxpayer Bill of Rights keep making an assertion: “TABOR did not work in Colorado, it won’t work in Maine.” A look at the economic and wage and salary-growth facts from Colorado versus Maine shows that to be false.

Colorado grew its private economy 68 percent faster than Maine. And spending at state and local level grew 43 percent faster. Colorado was able to increase local government and teacher salaries 53 percent faster than those in Maine. The data is from 1992 to 2002, the ‘worst’ period ending with the most recent economic cycle in a recession. The data is from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, available online.

Either TABOR had no impact, or its impact was a positive, but to say that TABOR “didn’t work” is untrue and misleading.

While many factors may have contributed to Maine’s poor economic performance, a major factor has been the heavy burden of taxation. Maine has consistently had one of the nation’s highest tax burdens. Currently, state and local taxes equal 13 percent of income, ranking the state the second-highest in the nation, well above the national average of 10 percent.

Per-capita income has been significantly below the national average. The poor performance in economic growth is reflected in high rates of poverty and citizens on government programs compared to the rest of the nation.

Maine needs the taxpayer relief that would be provided by a Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Lawrence ‘J’ Dwight, Wilton