In the War on Poverty, Give Peace a Chance Study shows lowering taxes and spending reduces childhood poverty
By Rob Roper

Rep. Robert Dostis (D-Waterbury) wrote an Op-Ed about a hunger problem that is growing in Vermont. In it he penned two thoughts that were not linked together on paper, but should have been. Together they are enlightening.

Dostis notes in one paragraph, "Vermont has a long record of leadership addressing hunger," citing thirty years of government programs we’ve funded to make his case. But, in another paragraph he reveals, "Here in Vermont, the percentage of families facing the most severe form of hunger has doubled since 1999 -- the largest increase in the nation." If this is true, we need to ask why thirty years of "leadership" (and a lot of tax dollars) gets us the worst record of accomplishment. 

A new report, "How to win the War on Poverty," by Mathew Ladner of the Goldwater Institute, takes an extensive look at poverty across the United States. His findings do much to explain why the phenomenon Dostis stumbled-upon is victimizing Vermonters. It turns out that – as some will argue the War on Terror just creates more terrorists -- the War on Poverty is, in fact, just creating more poor people, particularly more poor children, and it’s time to cut and run. Cut taxes that is. 

Ladner discovered that, "During [the 90’s], the average state saw childhood poverty decline by 8.4 percent, but in the 10 highest-spending states, childhood poverty increased by 4.5 percent." The reason: The states that spent less money taxed their citizens and businesses less, which led to more high-wage, private sector jobs. A job, after all and as this study illustrates, is the best, most effective anti-poverty program going. 

Vermont earned a lackluster C- (-5.1%) for our poverty reduction results in general and a below average C (-7.3%) for the job we’re doing on behalf of our children. Not bad grades by New England standards. Every other state in the high-taxing, high-spending North East got an F, but still, don’t Vermonters care enough to demand the best for our kids? 

So, who and what policies did get the best results? The answers are Colorado and the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Throughout the 90’s, Colorado reduced the number of children living in poverty by a whopping 26.9 percent. Not coincidentally, it was in 1992 that Colorado instituted the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, strictly capping state spending growth at a maximum rate of inflation plus population growth and returning – by law -- all excess revenue to the people who paid the taxes. As a result, Ladner writes, "Colorado’s economy has been exceptionally strong. Between 1995 and 2000, Colorado ranked first among all states in gross state product growth and second in personal income growth." These conditions reduce poverty for real -- not big government programs.

Colorado was hardly alone in reducing poverty through tax cuts. Another success story Ladner tells us comes from Arizona. That state began the 90’s with the fifth highest state and local tax burden in the nation. Twenty percent of its children lived below the poverty line before a series of tax cuts dropped Arizonan’s tax burden all the way down to 25^th. The result: Childhood poverty rates decreased by 12.1 percent. However, the opposite happened in California, a state that saw its tax burden increase from 25^th lowest to 9^th highest. California’s childhood poverty rate rose right along with taxes by 7.4 percent. 

If we really care about achieving helpful results in fighting poverty, especially for our children, Vermont has an opportunity in the upcoming legislative biennium to enact a Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. If we really care about solving the problems like the one Rep. Dostis calls to our attention, our first order of business should be to eliminate the biggest poverty inducing conditions that exist in Vermont today: One of the highest tax burdens in the nation, and a business climate ranked 46^th worst. 

In 2007, caring Vermonters should send a clear message to our legislature: In the war on poverty, give peace a chance. And, give all Vermonters the benefit of a Tax Payers’ Bill of Rights. 

-- Rob Roper is State Director for FreedomWorks-Vermont (www.freedomworks.org)