A Maine Tax Protest
Check out this Associated Press coverage of an anti-tax protest at the Maine state capital. The protestors want a revenue shortfall dealt with via spending reductions rather than higher taxes. Imagine that. Also on their wish list: a true tax reform plan that includes a variety of things, including a provision that sounds a lot like the Taxpayers Bill of Rights that has protected Colorado against budget crises for more than a decade.

"The proposal would seek to limit the growth of government spending by linking it to inflation and population growth, while providing a formula for voters to override the limit," reports the AP.

Here in Tennessee, Republican gubernatorial candidate Van Hilleary backs giving Tennesseans a similar Taxpayers Bill of Rights. Democrat Phil Bredesen, who raised property taxes three times in eight years as mayor of Nashville (by a hefty 42 percent for the average homeowner), opposes capping government spending through such a sensible measure.