Category Archives: Education

Oct 13

Don’t give Legislature a blank check

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DON’T GIVE LEGISLATURE A BLANK CHECK

In your upcoming mail ballot you will be asked to give the state of Colorado a blank check. Don’t be tricked into believing the initial language “without raising taxes…”

Proposition CC is a tax increase forever. Colorado taxpayers will no longer receive (forever) any of their tax rebates (refunds) of their hard earned money if Proposition CC passes.

Colorado Legislature has tricked us in the past by saying requested tax increases would fund roads, bridges, education, teacher pay, and on and on, but when our taxpayer money was spent, the Legislature decided to divert it elsewhere due to lobby and special interest groups pressure. The Legislature has consistently broken promises to Colorado voters. Recently, Colorado voters rejected 13 ballot measures at the state level by a wide margin. Because Colorado voters defeated the Colorado Legislature’s request for more funds, the Legislature now proposes to “trick” Colorado voters again.

This Proposition will “gut” the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (also known as TABOR). The Taxpayer Bill of Rights requires voter approval for any increase in taxes or debt. This is our Taxpayer Bill of Rights, not the Legislature’s, do not vote to give it away forever.

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights has been the only way voters have kept Colorado from spending taxpayer funds to the maximum, as done in California.

Proposition CC will forever remove Colorado seniors and veterans property tax exemptions. This will put seniors and veterans at risk, and place more pressure on local budgets.

Colorado communities have individually voted property tax increases to fund local schools and other services such as fire departments (we can locally determine if funds are being spent as represented), and if Proposition CC passes, those seniors and veterans on fixed incomes will have a difficulty paying local property tax bills.

Colorado has a top ranked economy. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights has contributed to Colorado’s success. Colorado has one of the lowest tax rates in the country providing a positive location for business investment and jobs.

If our Taxpayer Bill of Rights is repealed, over $1.7 billion collected over the next 3 years will not be refunded to Colorado taxpayers.

The Legislature already has a $32.5 billion budget… enough is enough! This budget automatically increases with population and inflation. The Legislature has enough of our money.

The Legislature must be held to account and budget just as we do with our personal budgets.

Mary Ann Smith

Pagosa Springs

http://gazette.com/opinion/letters-downtown-springs-gets-special-attention-don-t-give-legislature/article_fd7b996e-eb70-11e9-8a16-23c66974a6f9.html

Oct 13

Proposition CC explained: What it means to end the spending caps in TABOR and the money at stake

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Proposition CC explained: What it means to end the spending caps in TABOR and the money at stake

The debate for Prop. CC involves whether to keep TABOR refunds, or send the tax dollars to three key areas: education, colleges and transportation.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENTPRIMARY CATEGORY IN WHICH BLOG POST IS PUBLISHED

Brian Eason

Special to The Colorado Sun

In one of the most significant potential changes to state fiscal policy in decades, Colorado voters this November will be asked to permanently eliminate a revenue cap that has both restrained and reshaped state government since 1992.

The ask of voters is relatively modest: Forgo the occasional refund under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights — estimated at worth between $20 and a few hundred dollars for the typical household, according to the latest economic forecasts.

Nonetheless, the referendum known as Proposition CC backed by Gov. Jared Polis has the potential to be nothing short of a watershed moment in Colorado politics.

To supporters, it’s a long overdue change to TABOR that will allow the state to reinvest in essential public services that have atrophied over two recessions even as budget demands have grown. To opponents, it’s an unwelcome expansion of a state government that they view as too large already, thanks to an explosion of fees in the TABOR era.

And to both sides, it represents a critical battle in a broader ideological war over the proper size and scope of Colorado’s state government.

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

 

Oct 13

Colorado Voter Guide 2019: What you need to know about propositions CC

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Colorado Voter Guide 2019: What you need to know about propositions CC and DD before you vote

Voters will make decisions in November about two questions involving taxes that the Democratic-led state legislature put on the ballot

The Colorado Sun — johnfrank@coloradosun.com

There’s no presidential election or U.S. Senate contest on the 2019 ballot, but the Nov. 5 election will ask Colorado voters two fiscal questions with major ramifications for the future of the state.

Proposition CC and Proposition DD pose questions related to taxes — whether to keep the tax money the state collected and whether to add a new tax on sports gambling. And the interests that will benefit are spending big money to make their case. Ballots hit the mail starting Friday.

Here’s a look at the two statewide ballot questions. (Click the links below to jump to that section.)

Proposition CC  ||  PROPOSITION DD

Kellee Nolke talks to her kindergarten class at University Elementary School, 6525 W 18th St, in Greeley. Proposition CC would send money to education. (Joshua Polson, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Proposition CC

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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.

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

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):