Category Archives: Did you know?

Jan 20

Herman: Colorado’s over-spending problem explained

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Herman: Colorado’s over-spending problem explained

January 19, 2025 By Nash Herman

Colorado legislators are discovering first-hand the impossibility of having their cake and eating it too.

The Joint Budget Committee continues to meet with dozens of departments to reconcile an approximately $750 million budget shortfall in 2025, with some absurdly claiming that deficit is purely a result of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) at work.

Granted, it does sounds bizarre that the state must make budget cuts in a year that it is still expected to collect a surplus of revenue beyond what is allowed by TABOR. But by looking at the facts, anyone can come to see how the so-called budget “crisis” is actually a self-inflicted wound from the legislature’s relentless over-spending.

Having their cake 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Colorado received a windfall of federal funds to prop up the state economy and boost recovery.  To fund that massive stimulus, the federal government printed money, causing an increased supply of dollars chasing the same number of goods.  This in turn lead to the dollar being worth less, also known as inflation. Continue reading →

Jan 09

Gonzalez: Colorado’s TABOR Amendment serving taxpayers well

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Gonzalez: Colorado’s TABOR Amendment serving taxpayers well

January 7, 2025 By Rep. Ryan Gonzalez

In 1992, Colorado voters passed the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, the nation’s strongest tax limitation law to this day. For those who are unfamiliar what TABOR really does, this amendment to the Colorado Constitution allows government spending to reasonably increase using a formula of population growth plus inflation. Excess revenue, known as the “TABOR surplus,” must be refunded to taxpayers. If state government wants to keep the surplus, or raise taxes, voters must approve. That is exactly why progressives abhor TABOR. But the truth is, a little north of 60% of Colorado voters approve of TABOR.

Many progressives have made their disdain for TABOR be known, having tried time and time again to chip away at TABOR’s taxpayer protections. And in many ways, they’ve done so; mostly by adding tax credits which pull from the TABOR surplus. They’ve done so by giving everyone equal tax refunds and redistributing wealth; taking from those who paid the most in state taxes and giving more to those who paid little.

In 2022, the Democrat majority, just before a critical midterm election, gave taxpayers what they called the “Colorado cash back” in disguise as a “stimulus” check. What they didn’t tell you is that it was actually your TABOR refund, just early and proportioned against historical distribution. Continue reading →

Dec 21

Herman: Course correction needed for Colorado’s economic outlook

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December 20, 2024 By Nash Herman

The University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business recently released their 60th annual Business Outlook for 2025, and, despite a moderate outlook  in 2025, the report includes some disturbing trends in the Colorado economy.  Let’s take a look at some of what’s going wrong.

Troubling trends

As pointed out by Denver Post business writer Aldo Svaldi, Colorado was the fifth fastest growing economy in the country in the last 15 years, but was 41st this year.

In terms of personal income growth, Colorado moved from third to 39th.

Although Colorado only moved down from sixth to 15th for employment growth, it comes with the caveat that the job gains this year were skewed toward government, education and healthcare, and leisure and hospitality.

Conversely, the growth of the high-paying professional and business services industry has continued a downward trend since 2022.

Fueled by slowing migration to Colorado and an aging population, Colorado’s labor force growth ranking also moved from sixth to 29th.

Taxes, spending and regulation

Obviously, some of the problems with Colorado’s economy are externally caused, like the lingering effects of the pandemic and subsequent inflation from federal spending.

However, I think there is still more to be said as to why Colorado’s economy seems to be stuttering now.

Colorado’s shift toward bigger government and away from the free market is why these problems are beginning to manifest. Over-regulation, over-spending, and over-taxation are the key culprits. To Coloradans who have witnessed the economy’s decline, the most noticeable difference between today and twenty years ago is that the state now more closely resembles California more than the entrepreneurial Colorado of old. Continue reading →

Dec 08

BUSTED: Major Colorado Charity Gave $20,000 to Raise Taxes & Eliminate TABOR during 2024 Election!

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Dec 7, 2024 COLORADO

List of Real Pro-Liberty Colorado organizations: https://freestatecolorado.com/jeffco-… It’s the time of the year when Coloradans generously open their wallets to support charities across the State. However, one of Colorado’s largest charitable organizations gave $20,000 to a political committee that helped raise taxes in Jefferson County by $66 million this year! The Colorado Gives Foundation, which runs Colorado Gives Day, brings in around $500,000,000 yearly, and 3,7000 charitable organizations rely on them to help raise money! However, Liberty-minded Coloradans need to know that this organization is responsible for one of the worst assaults on the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) that we saw this year. In this video, Natalie Menten provides the details with tax documents, Secretary of State reports and more!

Nov 25

Perspective: Taxes — by another name

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Perspective: Taxes — by another name

  • By Lang Sias

Since 2018, Colorado taxpayers have benefited from two reductions to the state income tax that together have brought the rate from 4.63% to 4.4%, for an aggregate reduction of 0.23%. These reductions have been much heralded by state government leaders and have elicited approving comments from a wide range of observers.

The applause for these tax cuts, however, has obscured a separate tactic that state leaders increasingly have used to extract revenue from Coloradans in amounts that dwarf the income tax reductions. During the last two decades, Coloradans have seen a steady increase in the fees paid to a wide range of state enterprises. The pattern has accelerated dramatically since 2018.

According to a recent Common Sense Institute study, fee-based revenue to enterprises has increased since 2018 by an amount equivalent to a 0.51% increase in the state income tax — so, more than double the recent tax cuts. If Colorado’s fee enterprises, minus higher education, were instead funded by the state income tax, the state income tax would increase to 7.68%, a 75% increase over the current rate of 4.4%.

Continue reading →

Nov 10

More Evidence for the TABOR Spending Cap

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November 9, 2024 by Dan Mitchell

Last April, I shared some data showing that Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights had forced politicians in the Centennial State to return $8.2 billion of tax revenue.

The state’s politicians did not want to return the money. But TABOR is a spending cap and the rules require that any extra tax revenue (above and beyond what would finance allowed levels of spending) has to be returned to taxpayers.

This spending cap has been good news for the state’s economy, as illustrated by the chart.

But I now need to update the benefits of TABOR.

That’s because we have another year of data. And, as explained in this report from Center Square, taxpayers are getting another refund. This time, their savings will be more than $1 billion. Continue reading →

Nov 01

Article X, Section 20. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights

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If you see this on your ballot, you are voting for a TAX INCREASE!

“Ballot titles for tax or bonded debt increases shall begin, “SHALL (DISTRICT) TAXES BE INCREASED (first, or if phased in, final, full fiscal year dollar increase) ANNUALLY…?” or “SHALL (DISTRICT) DEBT BE INCREASED (principal amount), WITH A REPAYMENT COST OF (maximum total district cost), …?”

https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/info_center/laws/COConstitution/ArticleXSection20.html 

Poudre Schools Ballot Question Violates TABOR & Colorado Law

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Colorado’s TABOR Committee & TABOR Foundation @colorado_tabor replied with:
“The Poudre School District R-1 ballot title violates TABOR Section 20 (3) (c). The answer to Hi Kid’s question is “No, the District’s ballot title is not okay.”


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.”

Colorado’s TABOR Committee & TABOR Foundation @colorado_tabor replied with:
“We recommend retaining an attorney to quickly file for a temporary restraining order and an injunction in Larimer District Court.  If any increased taxes are collected, then they must be repaid to the taxpayers with interest. The County Treasurer makes repayment to taxpayers including the added interest required by the Colorado Constitution.”
Oct 25

Should any Colorado Judges be Retained? Constitutional Lawyer Rebecca Sopkin Gives her Picks!

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It’s not easy to find information on the judges appearing on your Colorado ballot. Rebecca Sopkin is a Constitutional Attorney and TABOR Foundation Board Member.

In this video, she is sharing her methodology for determining who to vote for, some resources for voters to use, and her picks for this year’s ballot. Links from the video https://freestatecolorado.com/sopkin/