I still maintain that Doug Bruce is an extremist. This is from the "blue book" from the Colorado Legislative Council explaining the issues on the ballot this year:
Referendum C: State Spending
When the state collects less money than the spending limit
allows, there are no refunds. The next year's limit is calculated from
the amount of money actually collected in the prior year. For
example, the state experienced a recession during 2001 and the
amount of money collected in 2002 was $7.8 billion, while inflation
plus population growth would have allowed spending of $8.1 billion.
The next year's limit grew from the $7.8 billion, not the $8.1 billion.
This lowering of spending is known as the "ratchet-down" effect.
The amount the state can spend under TABOR is now permanently
below what it would be if no recession had occurred and spending
had grown by inflation plus population each year.
Figure 1 shows how the spending limit has operated and is
projected to operate from 1997 through 2010. The solid line is the
state spending limit, the dotted line shows the estimated state
spending limit without a recession, and the shaded areas represent
refunds. Beginning in 2006, the shaded area is the money that
Referendum C is asking voters to allow the state to spend.
There is also a chart showing the ratcheting down effect- see
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/bluebook/BlueBook2005.pdf