Prodigal Son:  Tom Plant Appears in Nederland

Tom Lambrecht

2/3/2005 - State Representative Tom Plant has a reputation in a town that HAS a reputation for being easy-going and candid. Plant lives in Nederland and has been an active part of the community since he founded the Acoustic Coffehouse in the mid ‘90s. He ran for the House District 13 seat (representing Gilpin and parts of Boulder Counties and Nederland)  in 1998 and has held it ever since. This, his fourth term, will be his last by law. He currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Budget Committee of the General Assembly.

  His appearance at the “town hall” meeting on January 27^th which was sponsored by the Nederland Public Library, was just as “down home” as the community. He greeted many of the latecomers by name as they walked in. An attentive audience of almost two dozen, some of whom brought in homemade brownies and cookies, kept the questions coming. Representative Plant gave a short, but detailed synopsis of the current budget shortfall caused by TABOR and some of the proposals being advanced to address it. 

  TABOR or the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, places  rigid limits on taxing and spending by the government. It dictates, by way of some very complicated math , the amounts the state government can collect and spend. Any excess must be returned to taxpayers, even in years of budget shortfalls. Initially popular among fiscal conservatives and lovers of “lean” government, Tabor generated generous refunds to taxpayers until the national economy declined following the technology bust at the turn of this century, causing a corresponding decline in the personal income that provides the revenue to the state. Since tax year 2002, there has been no surplus revenue to refund and the spending caps threaten existing programs.

  Plant said the bipartisan Joint Budget Committee was staring down the barrel of a $100+ million shortfall for the 2004-05 budget, but that relief may come from an unlikely source--due to the bookkeeping complexities of TABOR, the revenues for the year may have been underestimated by roughly the same amount. However, he emphasized, this is  serendipitous fix and will not correct an estimated $600 million shortfall that could occur over the next five years if the economy does not improve.

  The crunch has hamstrung budgets in state agencies, most notably in human services, care for the elderly and disabled, and in funding for higher education. Plant points out that the latter does not simply affect the students. In college towns like Alamosa and Gunnison, decreased attendance or closings could send the local economies into a tailspin. Plant proposed a short term, “back against the wall” solution that would reclassify an in-state college student's $2,400 voucher as a tax refund rather than part of the general fund. But he stresses that this does not solve the long-term inflexibility of TABOR.

  Among the many other questions that evening, running the gamut from whether advancing his legislation has become easier since the November elections (in which the Democrats assumed a majority, albeit a slim one in both houses for the first time in 44 years - the answer was “yes”) to wind energy (Plant is sponsoring a bill providing tax credits for homeowners investing in renewable energy projects) was the question: what of his political aspirations for 2006?

  “Definitely not Governor”, Plant quipped.

  For the Internet-savvy, a few links: The official Colorado State legislature website which has it all, including links to audio streams of chambers proceedings and committee hearings -

http://www.leg.state.co.us/

  Rocky Mountain News coverage of Plant‘s voucher plan:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/legislature/article/0,1299,DRMN_37_3394761,00.html

  Rep. Andrew Romanoff’s plan introduced on January 27

http://www.coloradoan.com/news/coloradoanpublishing/Legislature2005/012705_budget_fix.html

  AP article on budget finger-pointing

http://www.coloradoan.com/news/coloradoanpublishing/Legislature2005/012705_gopbudget.html

  Governor Owens’ proposal to address the shortfall using tobacco settlement funds

http://www.colorado.gov/governor/tobacco.html

  The state treasurer weighs in on tobacco:

http://www.treasurer.state.co.us/news/releases/2004/1117_securitize_tobacco_settleme.htm

  Plant’s own website: http://www.tomplant.org/

  And of course, you can go online and punch “TABOR Colorado tax” or “TABOR Colorado tobacco settlement” into your favorite search engine for hours of opinionated reading.