Category Archives: Education

Jun 13

Group forms to fight anti-TABOR ballot question

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Group forms to fight anti-TABOR ballot question

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Members of No on CC, including, from left, Colorado House Republican leader Patrick Neville, Colorado Regent At-Large Heidi Ganahl, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler and U.S. Rep. Ken Buck.

(Courtesy, Associated Press, and Gazette/Colorado Politics file photos)

A group made up of some of the Colorado Republican Party’s biggest names has formed to fight Proposition CC on the November ballot. The measure would allow the state to keep future refunds allowed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to go for schools and transportation.

The group, called No on CC, includes former Gov. Bill Owens, former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown, U.S. Rep. Ken Buck and Colorado House Republican leader Patrick Neville.

The leadership is strong and well-known in GOP circles, as well. The co-chairs are University of Colorado Regent At-Large Heidi Ganahl, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler, and former state treasurers Walker Stapleton and Mark Hillman.

Tampering with TABOR is expected to be a partisan brawl, since Republicans contend it keeps taxes and the size of government in check. They point to Colorado’s booming economy as proof balancing taxes and government works.

Click (HERE) to read the rest of this story

May 24

Colorado groups cry foul over misleading information about TABOR

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Colorado groups cry foul over misleading information about TABOR

  • By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square
FILE - Colorado State Capitol
The Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado.

Shutterstock photo

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Voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether the state can keep excess revenues instead of refunding them to the taxpayer, and prevent voters from deciding on the matter in the future.

The legislatively referred state statute passed by a majority Democratic legislature and has the support of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.

Among other things, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires the state to refund excess revenue to taxpayers.

The lead sponsor of the amendment, Democratic Rep. K.C. Becker, says that Colorado’s strong economy gives the impression that “the state itself can make more investments, more improvements,” without raising taxes. But, she says, “We can’t because the state constitution prohibits the budget from growing with the economy.”

Click (HERE) to read the rest of the story

This article originally ran on thecentersquare.com.

May 20

Colorado voters to decide whether to dilute Taxpayer Bill of Rights

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The Center Square analysis

Colorado voters to decide whether to dilute Taxpayer Bill of Rights

Bills that passed during the legislative session would permanently end TABOR-granted tax refunds if voters give their approval

FILE - Voting booth polling place election
Allen J.M. Smith | Shutterstock.com

Colorado Democrats were successful in passing legislation this session that could chip away at the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) if voters give the majority party what they want.

TABOR is a constitutional amendment that requires voters to approve all tax increases. In addition to being a check on tax and spending increases, TABOR requires voter approval of debt increases. The amendment also ensures taxpayers receive refunds when the government’s revenue increases faster than population growth plus inflation.

It’s also one of the most contentious and partisan issues at the Colorado capitol.

TABOR means that anytime legislators want to raise taxes, they have to seek voter approval at the ballot box. But referendums become expensive and require significant political capital, especially given Coloradans’ recent history of voting down tax increase proposals.

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May 18

Sharf: The revolt of Colorado’s political elites

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Sharf: The revolt of Colorado’s political elites

Laws outlining government powers frequently come with restrictions. (See the U.S. Constitution for an excellent example.) Sometimes, the laws are restrictions, and they include exceptions. And sometimes, people vote down expansions or loosening of those restrictions.

Described by one side as guardrails and the other as a straitjacket, such restrictions very quickly morph into obstacles to be overcome or, in extremis, ignored. That such arrogance is profoundly disrespectful to the people of Colorado hasn’t kept it from being the default position of far too many elected officials.

Examples are legion. In 2018, voters rejected a proposal for a half-mile setback for new oil and gas wells by a 10-point margin. Nevertheless, the current legislature has passed and the governor signed Senate Bill 19-181. That law would allow local governments to ban all new wells, and the state is drafting regulations permitting exactly the setback that voters decisively rejected. Continue reading →

May 06

State could go off a fiscal cliff

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State could go off a fiscal cliff

By: Barry W Poulson

May 5, 2019

Barry Poulson

Colorado has created a fiscal cliff; the state is woefully unprepared for the revenue shortfall that will accompany the next recession. Citizens might be surprised to learn that the state has been pursuing imprudent policies that will result in a fiscal crisis when the next recession hits. It is important to understand how the fiscal cliff was created and what we can do about it.

Over the past two decades, Colorado has weakened the fiscal constraints imposed by the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights. TABOR limits the rate of growth in state spending to the sum of inflation plus population growth, regardless of the amount of revenue the state takes in.

But most state revenue is exempt from the TABOR limit. The exempt funds include the revenue from enterprises and the fees collected by government agencies, which have grown rapidly over this period. As a result, over the past decade TABOR has not constrained the growth in spending, and this year the state will spend virtually every dollar of revenue it takes in. Continue reading →

May 06

Sharf: Opponents of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights prove why we need it

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Sharf: Opponents of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights prove why we need it

May 6, 2019 By Joshua Sharf

Look at the list of organizations supporting House Bill 19-1257, the bill to ask Colorado voters to permanently repeal Colorado’s Taxpayer ‘s Bill of Rights (TABOR) spending limits. No fewer than 60 groups hired lobbyists to push for the measure, which will appear on November’s state-wide ballot.

Everyone is represented – governments, non-profits, business groups, unions, school districts, government employees.

Everyone is represented.

Well, everyone except the taxpayer.

Which is why we need a constitutional amendment protecting the taxpayer in the first place.

While TABOR has a number of provisions designed to limit government, there are three main ones. The first requires a citizen vote on all general tax increases – income tax, payroll tax, sales & property tax, etc. Fees directly related to delivering a specific government service are exempt. So-called enterprises, which do not receive general tax revenue, are also allowed to raise their fees and charges without a vote, and what’s more, their revenue doesn’t count towards the overall cap the way than regular fees do. Continue reading →

Apr 30

Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights Should Be a Model for the Nation

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Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights Should Be a Model for the Nation

Requiring voters’ consent to increase taxes or debt is a very effective check on the expansion of government.
Monday, June 18, 2018
Daniel J. Mitchell
Daniel J. Mitchell
A balanced budget requirement is neither necessary nor sufficient for good fiscal policy.

If you want proof for that assertion, check out states such as Illinois, California, and New Jersey. They all have provisions to limit red ink, yet there is more spending (and more debt) every year. There are also anti-deficit rules in nations such as Greece, France, and Italy, and those countries are not exactly paragons of fiscal discipline.

The real gold standard for good fiscal policy is my Golden Rule. And the best way to make sure government doesn’t grow faster than the private sector is to have a constitutional rule limiting the growth of government.

That’s why I’m a big fan of the “debt brake” in Switzerland’s constitution and Article 107 in Hong Kong’s constitution.

And it’s also why the 49 other states, assuming they want an effective fiscal rule, should look at Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) as a role model.

Continue reading →