SAN FRANCISCO, CA - There are more than 100 bills before the California legislature that will raise taxes and fees about $29 billion. Instead of increasing an already heavy tax burden, legislators should learn from Colorado, which in 1992 passed a state constitutional amendment called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).

This voter-approved measure limits increases in per capita state expenditures to the inflation rate and it mandates that excess tax revenues be refunded to taxpayers. As a result, between 1997 and 2002, Colorado reduced taxes more than any state, issuing six consecutive annual tax rebates totaling more than $3.2 billion.

When Californians were struggling with a $24 billion deficit in 2002, Coloradoans were enjoying a balanced budget and receiving $927 million in tax refunds. Colorado's economy surged in this fiscally responsible, business-friendly climate.

Between 1995 and 2000, Colorado's personal income grew 51 percent, ranking it second in the nation. Its gross state product grew 54 percent, first in the nation. California grew only 42 and 45 percent, respectively. Colorado'= s TABOR has granted tax relief, fostered economic growth, and reduced the size of its state and local government=8Babout $114 per person annually according to Michael New of the Harvard-MIT Data Center.

What Colorado, like 25 other states, has done is enact a TEL, a tax and expenditure limitation. To be effective, TELs must limit spending across the board, without politically correct exceptions. The growth limit must be stringent and straightforward. Colorado's TABOR, for example, limits annual increases in state spending and tax revenues to the inflation rate plus state population growth rate.

The spending limit must be automatically lowered when the state government transfers responsibility for a program to local governments. The state government can't escape the limit by simply transferring functions to lower levels of government. Debt increases and tax-rate hikes must be approved by voters, and tax revenue in excess of the limit must be immediately refunded to taxpayers in full, without earmarks for privileged interest groups.

Tax rates should be set each year to generate as little excess revenue as possible to minimize job losses and to prevent the government from becoming a giant tax-revenue-recycling center with the attendant bureaucracy. Finally, the TEL and the balanced-budget requirement must be embedded in the state constitution, not just in state statutes. Constitutional TELs have teeth because legislators must obey them. Statutory TELs are easily sidestepped=8Brepealed or modified in a pinch by a simple majority of the legislature.

If California had a Colorado-style TEL in place since the start of Governor Davis's first term, today's state spending would still be a healthy 21 percent larger than four years ago. Instead of a $35 billion deficit, however, we would enjoy a $5 billion surplus this year -- a $571 tax refund for a family of four -- and $30 billion cumulatively over the past four years. If refunded through tax-rate reductions, this would have created 851,000 California jobs. This TEL would have prevented the deep cuts Davis is now proposing by keeping spending on an even keel.

Governor Davis views the current budget crisis as an opportunity to design a "new foundation." An amendment to the California Constitution limiting the growth of taxes and spending is a great place to start. Two recent statewide polls show bipartisan support for this solution. The time to begin is now.