The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities sums up what the Taxpayers Bill of Rights did for Colorado since 1992, when it was adopted. Various Republican legislators have pushed for a Wisconsin TABOR that would sharply restrict the growth in government revenue.

TABOR was so successful in Colorado that voters in 2005 decided to suspend it to allow the state to recover from the damage it already had done.

A few  nuggets from CBPP:

• Between 1992 and 2001, Colorado declined precipitously from 35^th to 49^th in the nation in K-12 spending as a percentage of personal income. As of 2006, the state maintained its low ranking among the states at 48th.
• Colorado’s average per-pupil funding fell by more than $600 relative to the national average between 1992 and 2006.
• Colorado’s average teacher salary compared to average pay in other occupations declined from 30^th in the nation in 1992 to a low of 50 ^th in 2001, and edging up only slightly to 49th in the nation as of 2007.

• Under TABOR, Colorado declined from 23^rd to 48^th in the nation in the percentage of pregnant women receiving adequate access to prenatal care, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Colorado plummeted from 24^th to 50^th in the nation in the share of children receiving their full vaccinations. Only by investing additional funds in immunization programs was Colorado able to improve its ranking to 43^rdin 2004 and to 23^rd in 2008.
• Under TABOR, the share of low-income children lacking health insurance doubled in Colorado between 1992 and TABOR’s suspension, even as it fell in the nation as a whole. Colorado now ranks last 47^th among the 50 states on this measure.

Wow. A formula for disaster, based on a concept that candidate for governor Scott Walker embraces.