Why the CI-97 formula doesn't work
CI-97, like Colorado's TABOR, limits state
government spending to a rigid formula of inflation plus population
growth.
But Inflation (Consumer Price Index) measures
what consumers buy — not what state government buys. Consumers
buy things like groceries, housing, and clothes. State government
buys things like schools, roads, and health services for the
elderly. Those costs are rising far faster than the CPI.
Plus, populations that state government serves
(such as special education students and the elderly) are growing
more rapidly than the overall population.
Therefore, the formula prevents state government
from keeping up with the cost of providing necessary services.
SOS and TABOR force annual reductions in the level of public
services, while doing nothing to encourage efficient spending
of taxpayer dollars.
Read
more about the flawed CI-97 formula.
CI-97 fixes nothing
Montana's CI-97/SOS backers claim their initiative fixes the
problems with TABOR that plagued Colorado. They did tweak
the wording a little. But in fact it is the formula
that caused the problems. The same rigid formula that devastated
Colorado is intact in Montana's SOS initiative.
Learn
more about why CI-97 doesn't fix the problems with Colorado's
TABOR.
Montana already has a balanced budget
requirement
Montana's constitution already requires a balanced state budget.
As Montana's Lt. Governor John Bohlinger said,
CI-97/SOS would replace that one-sentence requirement in our
constitution with "three pages of complex formulas and legalese
that only a lawyer with a math degree could understand."
We don't need CI-97 or any other budget gimmicks
that create problems and solve nothing.
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Who's
behind CI-97
Why CI-97 doesn't work
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