Hi Kid @HiKidHey asked this on X (Twitter): “So what does that mean for voters? Who is ultimately responsible for the TABOR violation? The local county clerk or the district’s designated election official? Genuinely curious.”
Hi Kid @HiKidHey asked this on X (Twitter): “So what does that mean for voters? Who is ultimately responsible for the TABOR violation? The local county clerk or the district’s designated election official? Genuinely curious.”
Property tax caps have been restored in Colorado. That’s thanks to the pressure from the Citizens’ Tax Cap, compelling state politicians to address the property tax crisis in an August 2024 Legislative Special Session because local governments didn’t lower the property tax mill levies and alleviate the problem.
The property tax crisis was created because voters in local elections in the past has unwittingly voted to forfeit caps in our constitutional Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) and statutory 5.5% Annual Property Tax Cap, recognizing later it was a big mistake. State politicians had mixed feelings about the 2024 Special Session, fiscally conservative legislators thought that HB 24B-1001 didn’t provide enough assurance that residents would not be taxed out of homes. Some “progressive” elected officials thought it was horrible to provide property tax relief in response to a citizen initiative, calling it a “fecal sandwich”.
Jefferson County, like Arapahoe and Weld, has maintained tax caps for over 30 years due to vigilant citizens rejecting misleading ballot issues, such as 1A in 2019 and 2022. However, this is at risk again with a new version of 1A on the 2024 ballot. This version, like before, uses deceptive language and aims to permanently remove these caps.
The key is to share this information quickly and widely. Remind your friends and networks to vote NO on 1A to preserve the caps. Ballots will arrive around October 14-15.
The recent legislative special session caused by the Citizen’s Tax Cap implemented two key changes:
Jefferson County’s 1A, being set before this date, skirts these new transparency rules.
Governments often use tax dollars for public persuasion campaigns and exploit legal loopholes during election seasons to get away with it. I recently discussed this in an interview with Free State Colorado, which you can watch here.
The past proponents of Jeffco 1A tax hikes even resorted to tainting our local TABOR notice booklet in 2019. The shenanigans didn’t stop there.
Our current county commissioners Andy Kerr, Lesley Dahlkemper, and Tracy Kraft-Tharp, have stepped up the attack on taxpayers’ wallets using a $340,000 taxpayer-funded political strategist, and continue to push their intentionally misleading ballot language to eliminate the caps.
Voters must reject this behavior. Vote NO on Jefferson County 1A to keep tax caps in place.
– Property owners: Vote no to avoid excessively higher property taxes year after year.
– Renters: Rising property taxes will be passed on as rent increases, making housing less affordable.
– Consumers: Higher business property taxes will raise prices for goods and services.
Vote NO on 1A to protect yourself from excessively increasing costs. If you can’t afford more at the grocery store, gas pump, insurance bill, or rent – you sure can’t afford removing property tax caps forever. Even if you can afford excessive taxes, can your neighbor on a fixed income handle it or your grandkids?
If you’d like to find out more information, please join these informative meetings hosted by taxpayer advocacy non-profits:
We just wanted to remind you that the premise of this case was settled in December, 2021 but the political party on the left doesn’t learn. Here’s the headline and story:
Chief Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich, writing for himself and six of his colleagues, concluded that the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners, a handful of school districts and one special district failed to show that the 1875 Enabling Act that guaranteed to Colorado a “republican” form of government had also given the local government entities the ability to challenge TABOR’s taxing and spending restrictions.
“Looking at the Enabling Act’s language, we conclude the plaintiffs cannot state a claim under the Act’s promise of a republican constitution. Neither the Enabling Act’s text nor structure supports the political subdivisions’ arguments. The clause promising a constitution republican in form has no clear beneficiary,” Tymkovich wrote in the Dec. 13 decision.
A group of Colorado lawmakers has unveiled a plan to fundamentally change state tax policy and attempt to eliminate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
The plan, announced Monday afternoon by Democratic legislators, includes reclassifying chunks of Colorado highway funding so it doesn’t fall under the TABOR spending cap, which would free up money for other things. They also hope to end Colorado’s flat income tax and replace it with a system in which higher-income taxpayers pay higher rates than low-income filers.
Lawmakers also introduced a resolution Monday that seeks to launch a lawsuit challenging the legality of TABOR, which was passed by Colorado voters in 1992, under the U.S. Constitution.
“The state is coming to a reckoning on whether we can sustain ourselves,” said Sean Camacho, a Denver Democrat. “And all of these measures are critical to figuring that out.”
The lawsuit resolution has attracted a roster of co-sponsors, including some top legislative leaders. The proposals come as Colorado faces a budget hole of more than $1 billion because of the cap set by TABOR.
TABOR limits how much state spending can grow based on inflation and population growth. Certain sectors of government spending, chiefly mandatory Medicaid costs, have far outstripped the pace of consumer inflation, effectively eating into how much the state can spend on nonmandatory programs.
To read the rest of this article, click (HERE) to go to the Denver Post.
The gold dome of the state Capitol is seen in Denver.
The Associated Press File
Headlines from the state Capitol might cause a reader to believe Colorado is in a deep recession. Legislators say they must cut more than $1 billion in spending to balance the 2025-26 budget.
Still, state government has $687 million more to spend than last year in a $19 billion budget. So why all the histrionics about a budget “crisis”?
Because Colorado lawmakers practice fiscal tailgating.
Tailgating on the highway is dangerous because when drivers travel too fast and follow too close to the car ahead, the tailgating driver doesn’t have time to react if the lead driver unexpectedly brakes or swerves.
Fiscal tailgating is much the same. Lawmakers spend money as fast as it comes in, then when the economy slows, they face much harder choices than if they had tapped the brakes when awash in money.
After COVID, Congress inflated the money supply and passed out trillions to states. Colorado raked in billions, which lawmakers knew would someday run out.
Not long ago, veteran members of the Joint Budget Committee, regardless of party, would stand firmly against spending one-time funds for ongoing programs because they knew they’d ultimately be forced to cut the new program or cut something else.
Ending a program people have come to rely on is never popular.
But for the past few years, the Democrat-controlled legislature has done the opposite. As one local news organization reported, “The budget has actually been out of balance for years.
To continue reading the rest of the story, please click (HERE).
Despite Colorado’s $1.2 billion budget deficit, increasing regulatory woes, and a souring economic outlook, the state legislature continues to proliferate new legislation that promises to increase government size and spending.
The 120-day 2025 legislative session is beyond the halfway point, and Colorado’s 35 senators and 65 representatives have introduced over 500 bills so far, with several containing significant fiscal impacts.
Using data from the Legislative Council Staff’s Fiscal Note Reports, I consolidated bills into interactive charts to display the proposed legislation’s impact on government employment, the General Fund, and the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in FY2025-26. .
According to the data, all proposed legislation thus far in 2025 would add over 300 full-time equivalent (FTE) hires to the state’s payroll, reduce General Fund revenue by over $900 million, and reduce funds subject to TABOR by over $1.3 billion.
Of course, legislators will not pass all these bills, and some bills with significant fiscal impacts have already been rejected.
As previously reported in Complete Colorado, the lack of political competition in Colorado’s legislature has ushered in an unprecedented era of ballooning government expansion, and that extraordinary growth is now coming home to roost.
But this year’s budget shortfall did not appear out of thin air.
As I previously explained, Colorado’s billion-plus dollar budget hole was caused by government overspending and the shirking of fiscal responsibility and accountability.
In short, the government spent one-time federal money for COVID relief on ongoing programs, inflation continues to cool (slowing government growth as allowed by the state constitution), the cost of Medicaid continues to increase, and the legislature continues to expand special interest tax breaks.
This is while resisting transparency and accountability and instead deflecting blame onto TABOR, which progressives blame for holding back the state’s ability to offer essential services.
In reality, TABOR just reasonably limits the growth of government, forcing the state to be more efficient, effective, and responsible when spending Coloradans’ money.
Click (HERE) to read the rest of this article at Complete Colorado!
#HandsOffTABOR
#DontBeFooled
#ItsYourMoneyNotTheirs
#TABOR
#FeesAreTaxes
#FollowTheLaw
#VoteOnFees
#ReplaceThemAllForNotFollowingVotersWishes
By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board
After years of overreach and unchecked government growth, Colorado lawmakers are now scrambling to plug a $1.2 billion hole in the state budget — a crisis largely of their own making.
Colorado budget writers voted Wednesday night to finalize a 2025–26 budget plan that slashes transportation funding, eliminates programs, and kicks key decisions down the road — all while Medicaid spending surges out of control.
Despite the so-called “cuts,” the budget still grows to over $16 billion. But massive increases in Medicaid — particularly long-term care for seniors and the disabled — are eating up the budget at an unsustainable pace. Democrat lawmakers admit the problem is only getting worse. “Next year, I see our fiscal challenges compounding,” said Rep. Shannon Bird, vice chair of the Joint Budget Committee (JBC), during a hearing.
Conservatives argue this crisis is a direct result of failed progressive governance: endless new programs, expensive mandates, and refusal to address structural overspending.
Once again, the state’s taxpayer protections — the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) — are being blamed by Democrats for the budget woes. TABOR limits government growth to population plus inflation, requiring refunds to citizens when revenue exceeds the cap.
Instead of thanking taxpayers for Colorado’s booming economy, JBC Chair Sen. Jeff Bridges (D-Greenwood Village) criticized TABOR: “When the economy is booming and the state is tightening its belt, that just doesn’t make sense,” he told The Colorado Sun. “It’s like, ‘why are you making these cuts?’ And the answer is TABOR.”
But to fiscal conservatives, it makes perfect sense. TABOR keeps the government from ballooning during economic highs and forces legislators to prioritize. That’s not dysfunction — it’s accountability.
Click (HERE) to read the rest of this editorial.
Click (HERE) to continue reading this story.
#HandsOffTABOR
#DontBeFooled
#ItsYourMoneyNotTheirs
#TABOR
#FeesAreTaxes
#FollowTheLaw
#VoteOnFees
#ReplaceThemAllForNotFollowingVotersWishes
Thanks to Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), residents will receive a refund when filing their 2024 state income taxes in 2025.
? How to Get It:
? How Much Will You Get? Refund amounts are based on your income and filing status. Here’s what to expect:
Single Filers:
Joint Filers:
? Bonus: Lower Income Tax Rate The state income tax rate dropped from 4.40% to 4.25% for 2024 — another TABOR win for taxpayers!