Colorado voters agreed Tuesday to give up $3.7 billion in tax refunds over the next five years to allow the state to bounce back from a recession, ignoring the arguments of fiscal conservatives who say the government does not need more money to spend.With 83 percent of the expected vote counted statewide, 463,841 voters, or 53 percent, had approved the plan, compared with 419,236 , or 47 percent, who voted against it.Supporters said Colorado could not afford to vote no, not with higher education, health care and transportation already suffering from millions of dollars in budget cuts.
The measure lets the state keep an estimated $3.7 billion over five years that would otherwise be refunded under a constitutional amendment that is considered the nation's strictest cap on government spending.
The 1992 amendment, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, has been celebrated by fiscal conservatives across the country. Until this year, its supporters included Gov. Bill Owens, but the lame-duck Republican stunned his party by joining Democrats on the ballot measure. Governor Owens said he backed it because Colorado faced a fiscal crisis.
