The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the initiative on the November ballot, will be dissected and discussed at a public forum set for Sunday, Oct. 22, in Cape Elizabeth.

The forum is sponsored by the Cape TABOR Task Force, which has been meeting regularly to outline and discuss what TABOR would mean for the town. The task force, a group of roughly 38 residents, is assembling a question-and-answer sheet to mail out to Cape residents. The forum will begin at 1 p.m. at the Pond Elementary School.

Bill Becker, president of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, will speak in favor of TABOR, and Phyllis Cohn, the communications director for AARP, will speak against it.Town Council Chairman Dave Becker will be the moderator. The task force is inviting people to sit in as additional panel members, but details are still being ironed out, said McLaughlin, co-chair of the task force.

“There will be questions from the audience as well as pre-set questions from the task force,” said McLaughlin. She said the group will also be collecting questions from the public from now until the October forum.

“We are trying to see if we can arrange a taping of the event as well,” said McLaughlin.

“I’ll be responding to the economic and spending restraints of TABOR,” said Becker on Friday. Becker said the Maine Heritage Policy Center wrote the TABOR bill.

“We live in a terrific place, and we have the lowest quality of economic life in the country,” said Becker of Portland. He said Maine and Louisiana were the only states to have a decrease in economic activity in 2005.

Becker said TABOR is a response to the fact that taxes in Maine are growing faster than the economy. He said similar bills have been tried in 30 other states, and Maine needs one that is more stringent.

“It is important because personally we know people are not staying in Maine,” said Becker. The state needs to provide a reason for young people to stay in Maine, he said.

“Most people don’t think about where their taxes go,” said Cohn during an interview Monday. AARP and other groups are trying to educate people so they will be aware of what they are actually voting for in November, she said.

Cohn said her organization is one of over 80 that help make up the state’s anti-TABOR group, Citizens United to Protect our Public Safety, Schools and Communities.

“We agree that Maine needs tax reform,” said Cohn of the Citizens United group. “TABOR will not solve the problems,” she said.

“I am also a property taxpayer in Cape Elizabeth,” said Cohn, who lives on Route 77. Cape residents enjoy living in a community that values what tax dollars pay for, she said.

People care about libraries, school programs, safety needs and things like Meals on Wheels, said Cohn. Cuts will come if TABOR passes and programs will have to be cut somewhere, she said. “TABOR will hurt things people care about,” she said.

McLaughlin said the TABOR task force will be working on the question-and-answer flier at its next meeting on Oct. 4. The task force will also need to consider what recommendations to give the Cape Elizabeth Town Council.

“We are an informational group,” said McLaughlin, so the task force will not be suggesting whether the town should support TABOR. She said recommendations would include what budget changes would be suggested if TABOR passes.