Category Archives: Editorial

Nov 07

Hope and Despond in Colorado

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Voters stood up for tax refunds—but not charter schools.

By  The Editorial Board
Nov. 6, 2019 7:05 pm ET

Opinion: Colorado Voters Stood Up for Tax Refunds


Proposition CC would have affected the Taxpayer Bill of Rights in Colorado. However, the measure failed at the polls on November 5, 2019. Image: David Zalubowski/Associated Press

They didn’t make the biggest headlines, but Tuesday’s elections in Colorado included two results that deserve national attention. First, a wide margin of voters refused to weaken the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, a constitutional provision that prevents state tax collections from outpacing inflation plus population growth.

Voters approved TABOR, as it’s commonly called, in 1992. Since then it has delivered Coloradans about $3.5 billion in tax refunds, which are required whenever state revenue exceeds the calculated limit. But politicians, being politicians, would much prefer to spend the extra funds. Proposition CC would have eviscerated TABOR by allowing the state to put any revenue windfall into schools and roads.

A point of worry among fiscal conservatives was the ballot question’s wording, which began: “Without raising taxes . . . ” Perhaps this was strictly accurate, since no tax rates would have changed. But it was misleading in spirit, given that the proposition’s point was to let the state government keep more taxpayer money. Voters weren’t fooled. The measure failed, 45% to 55%, as of the tally Wednesday.

To read the rest of this story, please click (HERE):

Nov 05

The Most Important Ballot Initiative of 2019

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November 4, 2019 by Dan Mitchell

Last November, voters in some states had the opportunity to accept or reject some very important initiatives, including votes on Colorado’s flat tax, Arizona’s school choice system, and a carbon tax in the state of Washington.

Since 2019 is an off-year election, there aren’t as many initiatives and referendums. But one of them is vitally important. Politicians in Colorado are hoping voters will approve Proposition CC, which would gut the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and thus allow more government spending.

Why is TABOR worth defending? Because it’s far and away the most effective and well-designed fiscal rule in the United States.

It’s basically a spending cap, which is the ideal fiscal policy, and here’s a description of how it works that I shared last year.

Colorado voters adopted The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in 1992. TABOR allows government spending to grow each year at the rate of inflation-plus-population. Government can increase faster whenever voters consent. Likewise, tax rates can be increased whenever voters consent. …The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requires that excess government revenues be refunded to taxpayers, unless taxpayers vote to let the government keep the revenue.

Proposition CC doesn’t fully repeal TABOR, but it allows politicians to keep – and spend – excess tax revenues.

For the rest of this story, please click (HERE):

Nov 04

Norquist & Gleason: Fate our nation’s most important taxpayer protection measure hangs in the balance

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The 2020 presidential campaign is dominating media coverage, but in just a few days, on Nov. 5, the voters (not a poll) of the battleground state of Colorado will determine the future of the nation’s strongest and most effective tax and expenditure limitation measure, known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).

Approved by more than 53 percent of voters in 1992, Colorado’s TABOR mandates that state revenue cannot grow faster than the combined rate of inflation and population growth. State revenue collected in excess of the TABOR cap is refunded to taxpayers. TABOR also requires lawmakers to get voter approval for all tax increases.

It is projected that Colorado state government will have to refund roughly $500 million to Colorado taxpayers in 2020 due to revenue collections coming in above the TABOR cap. The progressive Democrats who run Colorado’s state legislature and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis are working to prevent those and all future refunds from happening with a measure referred to the November 2019 ballot that seeks to kill the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Proposition CC, which will appear on the statewide ballot in Colorado this fall, asks Colorado voters to allow state government to keep money that is supposed to be sent back to taxpayers in accordance with TABOR. Passage of Proposition CC would mean the end of the TABOR and the result would be a significantly higher tax burden in perpetuity for individuals, families, and employers across Colorado.

 

 

To read the rest of this story, please click (HERE):

Oct 25

14 REASONS TO OPPOSE UNLIMITED STATE SPENDING

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  1. Does it make sense to vote to give up your right to vote, FOREVER?
  1. Is it right to vote away other people’s right to vote?
  1. Government spending is either limited or unlimited. Which do you want?
  1. The Founding Fathers risked everything for “posterity.” That’s us. Should we surrender the rights of our children and grandchildren…our posterity?
  1. If you don’t want your state tax refund, tear up your state refund check, butdon’t deny state tax refunds to millions of families who want or need it.
  1. Make politicians live on a balanced budget, not a blank check.
  1. America was founded on “the consent of the governed,” a very good idea.
  1. If spending grows without limit in good times, cuts hurt more in bad times.
  1. Politicians can change current spending promises in 2020. It’s called lying.
  1. State spending grows automatically by inflation plus population; we are voting only on the surplus. No ordinary law can change the constitution.
  1. Total state spending is over $40.9 BILLION yearly; it has zoomed from $9 BILLION in 1994 (6.5% yearly). With 5.5 million people, it now exceeds $7,500 EACH ($30,000 for an average family of four). Isn’t that enough?
  1. In 2005, they tricked us into a 5-year state spending “time out.” 14 years later, they still steal our refunds. Our loss now exceeds $2 billion yearly.
  1. Colorado has the best economy of any state, per a national survey. Don’t ruin our prosperity by allowing this BIG tax hike!
  1. The ballot title says, “Without raising taxes,” another lie. If you lose your tax refund, you pay higher total taxes than if you get your tax refund.
Oct 23

Ferry: Prop CC is a blank check with no expiration date

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Even though I don’t write a column anymore, some issues demand attention. Today, it’s Proposition CC. The question is, where to start.

The deceptive wording is as good a place as any.

“Without raising taxes and to better fund public schools, higher education, and roads, bridges, and transit, within a balanced budget, may the state keep and spend all the revenue it annually collects after June 30, 2019, but is not currently allowed to keep and spend under Colorado law, with an annual audit to show how the retained revenues are spent?”

It seems to me if the legislature wants to strip one of the fundamentals of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, our lawmakers should have the nerve to say so.

For those of you who don’t know, in 1992 voters amended the Colorado Constitution to limit the growth of government by limiting spending — a bill affectionately known as TABOR.

To read the rest of this TABOR editorial, please click (HERE):

Oct 23

If Prop CC passes, prepare for a full repeal of TABOR

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Kevin McCarney of Mesa County reminds voters “All tax revenue goes to the general fund” with #PropositionCC.

 Colorado is a unique state for many reasons. Beautiful land, bountiful waters, the Rocky Mountains. However the most unique thing about our state is not physical. It’s a law passed in 1992.

No other state in the union has one.

It is a most simple law. If the politicians want to raise our taxes, they have to put to a vote of the citizens. If they want raise our debt, they have to put it to a vote of the citizens. If the tgovernment collects more tax revenue than permitted they have to return the money to us. Simple as that.

Bureaucrats hate this law. So do most lawmakers. You see, they think they know how to spend our money better than we do and want the right to spend without limits.

Our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights has led to a backlash at every level of government, and it stretches across party lines. Our people who represent us in government have one thing in common: They can never get their hands on enough of our money to spend.

To read the rest of this story, please click (HERE):

Oct 16

Four reasons to vote no on Proposition CC

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Four reasons to vote no on Proposition CC

There are many reasons to vote no on Proposition CC, but for the sake of brevity, I will stick with the basics.

Reason No. 1: It does raise taxes.

While the first three words of the ballot language for Proposition CC are “Without raising taxes,” this simply isn’t true. And it’s hard to understand how proponents can keep a straight face with this one. If the state owes us money in the form of a refund because we’ve overpaid our taxes, and if they don’t give us the refund, we will in fact pay more taxes than we would have without Proposition CC. Period. Continue reading →