Category Archives: Education

Oct 08

More out of state money rolls in to support Proposition CC; over $350K from NYC-based group

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#TABOR
#DontLoseYourRights
#DontGetFooledAgain
#VoteNoOnPropositionCC
#TABORMatters

DENVER — A New York City-based organization has doubled down on getting involved in Colorado’s election this year.

More specifically, Education Reform Now Advocacy (ERNA), which initially sent the “Coloradans for Prosperity aka Yes on Prop CC” campaign committee $100,000 to push a ballot effort to permanently eliminate tax refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), sent another $352,000 to the campaign, according to a Major Contributors Report filed by Yes on CC Monday.

According to the ERNA website, it believes that “every child should receive an adequate and equitable allocation of resources no matter their race, socioeconomic status, or zip code nor whether they are enrolled in a traditional district-run public school or public charter school.”

Dan Ritchie, Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Denver told a crowd of mostly Democrat law makers, teachers and students who officially kicked off the campaign last week, that they needed to beware of money from outside of Colorado being spent from the opposition, referring to Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a Washington D.C.-based organization.

According to AFPs website, it advances “policies that will help people improve their lives.” AFP Colorado recently spent nearly $500,000 on a media campaign to oppose Prop CC.

Although both AFP and ERNA have Colorado offices, the difference in the two organizations is their direct ties to the official yes and no on CC groups.

AFP is an independent group making its own decisions on how to target the No on CC message. ERNA is donating directly to the Yes on CC campaign, which will determine how to spend the money.

The additional revenue puts the Yes on CC campaign at slightly more than $2 million in donations, while No on CC has reported only $17,000 in total contributions.

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Oct 08

How Colorado officials manipulate ballot language to get what they want: The case of JeffCo Issue 1A

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How Colorado officials manipulate ballot language to get what they want: The case of JeffCo Issue 1A

Some people bemoan the lack of trust in government officials. Those people should read more. They could start by learning how many of Colorado’s officials ruthlessly manipulate ballot language to mislead voters and skew election results.

Jefferson County’s Ballot Issue 1A—up for a vote next month—is a case in point.

Issue 1A is a referendum under the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). TABOR requires officials to ask voter permission, via referendum, for several kinds of fiscal decisions. The most important are (1) raising taxes, (2) creating debt, and (3) waiving caps on government spending (which TABOR sometimes confusingly calls “revenue”).

Knowing that government officials sometimes try to manipulate elections, the TABOR drafters inserted rules governing how tax and debt issues appear on the ballot. But they omitted similar rules for elections to waive spending caps.

The reasons for the omission are not clear. Perhaps it was an oversight. Or perhaps the drafters thought rules were unnecessary, because waivers were to last a maximum of four years. If a waiver was abused, the abuse would soon be over and voters could hold the guilty officials accountable.

But in 2002, the Colorado Court of Appeals issued a case seriously misinterpreting TABOR. The court ruled that once the voters in a particular locale approve a spending cap waiver, the waiver does not necessarily expire. The waiver may specify five years, or seven, or ten. If it does not contain an ending date, the waiver lasts forever. TABOR spending caps never apply in that locale again.

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

Oct 07

GUEST COLUMN: Voters should defend their TABOR refunds

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GUEST COLUMN: Voters should defend their TABOR refunds

  • Thomas Aiello

Oct 5, 2019

Last year, Colorado voters overwhelmingly rejected last year’s ballot measure that amounted to a multibillion-dollar tax increase on families and businesses. But taxpayers beware: pro-tax activists are back on the ballot again this November with a measure to weaken Colorado’s historic Taxpayer Bill of Rights, so that they can more easily pass tax increases in the future.

This year’s ballot measure is Proposition CC, which would alter TABOR in a way that would take money out of taxpayers’ pockets. Since it was approved by voters in 1992, TABOR has provided Coloradans with the strongest set of taxpayer protections in the country. By guaranteeing refunds of excessive taxes, restricting spending to sensible growth rates, and giving Coloradans the ability to vote on tax increases, TABOR has been instrumental in the state’s booming economy. Without TABOR, Colorado would likely not be one of the fastest growing states in the country, even as the state continues to rank high on measurements of public health and education.

Since TABOR limits the amount of money the state is allowed to spend, surplus revenue in excess of the cap must be refunded to Colorado taxpayers. Generally, the revenue cap on the state level grows with inflation plus population increases. Due to a strong economy, however, revenue collections are coming in above the caps, which means the state will have to refund about $500 million to Colorado taxpayers next year, and about $1.3 billion over the next three years. For millions of taxpayers across the state, these refunds could help cover a week’s worth of groceries, family activities, or even help to pay some rent.

But as of now, potentially $1.3 billion in refunds to taxpayers are in limbo and could be scrapped forever.

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

 

Oct 07

Even The Denver Post Editorial Board Says To Vote No On Proposition CC

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“On Sunday, the Denver Post endorsed a “NO” vote on Proposition CC on the ballot this fall.  Although the Post editorial board has not changed its historic support for ever more and higher taxes, even they could not overlook how terribly flawed and poorly thought-out this measure is.”

Click (HERE) to read the Denver Post Editorial:

Oct 01

Refund Madness: Taxpayers From Coast To Coast Set To Receive Surplus Revenue

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That is unless more voters vote to pay higher taxes, give up their TABOR refunds permanently, and lose their brake on tax and spend politicians.
#TABOR
#DontLoseYourRights
#DontGetFooledAgain
#VoteNoOnPropCC
#WhyTABORMatters

November 2019 Ballot Measure Will Decide Fate Of All Future Taxpayer Refunds In Colorado 

The ultimate debate over the refunding of surplus revenue to taxpayers is taking place in Colorado, home to the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), a law that requires surplus revenue collected in excess of the rate of population growth plus inflation be returned to Colorado taxpayers.

Thanks to a strong economy, revenue collections have been coming in well-above the TABOR spending cap, meaning that roughly $650 million is scheduled to be refunded to Colorado taxpayers. Proposition CC, a measure referred to the November 2019 ballot by Governor Jared Polis (D) and Democrats who run the Colorado Legislature, would stop that scheduled refund, and all future refunds.

Passage of Proposition CC would gut TABOR, guaranteeing a higher state tax burden in the future, even if all tax increases would still be subject to voter approval.

“Prop CC says you agree to give up your tax refunds not for just this year, not for the next four years, but forever,” Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, writes in the Denver Post this week. “No future generation will be able to give or withhold their consent over their tax refunds…Our children’s children’s children will never get a TABOR refund. Nor even be asked.”

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