Category Archives: Elections

Feb 03

Special Districts and the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights

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There are over 4,500 local government agencies in Colorado. Nearly 3,000 of those are special districts. All of these agencies and special districts are included under our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).

Most voters wouldn’t be able to list off the top of their head all the local governments collecting property taxes from them directly or passed on to them as a percentage of rent by the property owner in the course of business. You might have a couple or several of these governments charging you property taxes — lots of layers.

You can check your special districts using this Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) GIS map. It’s a great tool offering filters and layers so you get all the information. Click on the district map and you’ll get the annual levy rate and contact information for the district.

Why should we care?

Property Taxes

Special districts, especially metropolitan districts, can amount to a sizable portion of your property tax bill. Just because you don’t directly write the check for the property taxes doesn’t mean you’re not paying part or all of the property tax bill. Tenants and consumers pay a portion of the property taxes in rent or included in the cost of the products they buy. Continue reading →

Jan 14

Murrey: Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refunds in Democrats’ crosshairs

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Last year, Colorado Democrats championed TABOR refunds as they campaigned for reelection. Yet not a week into the 2023 legislative session, they announced plans to try and halt those refunds indefinitely.

A forthcoming bill by Rep. Cathy Kipp (D) and Sen. Rachel Zenzinger (D), if passed by the legislature and approved by voters, would allow the state to retain future tax refund dollars mandated under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Colorado’s Constitution. Kipp says the money would go to fund public schools.

Proponents of this idea have failed in the past to gather the 120,000 signatures required to put the question on the November ballot. The legislature can circumvent this requirement by passing the measure as a bill first.

Every time voters speak on key issues related to TABOR, they send the same unambiguous message: “Leave TABOR alone and let us keep our money!”

Democratic legislators either didn’t get the message, or they just don’t care what voters think.

In 2019 after voters gave Democrats unified control over state government, legislators thanked them by sending Proposition CC–which would have permanently ended TABOR refunds–to the November ballot, where Coloradans soundly rejected it.

Coloradans spoke loud and clear: “Leave TABOR alone and let us keep our money!”

In 2020, voters had the choice between two competing citizen-led ballot initiatives. One would have raised taxes and repealed TABOR’s requirement that Colorado maintains the same income tax rate for all taxpayers. The other, put on the ballot by my organization, Independence Institute, reduced the state’s income tax rate from 4.63 to 4.55 percent. The latter passed with a wide margin. The former failed even to gather enough signatures to appear on the ballot.

Once again, Coloradans spoke loud and clear: “Leave TABOR alone and let us keep our money!”

Fast forward to 2022. If the people of Colorado had not made their will clear enough already, last year left no ambiguity.

To continue reading this story, please click (HERE):

Nov 15

TABOR’s multiple anniversary dates

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TABOR’s multiple anniversary dates

November 3, 1992 passed by voters.

November 4, 1992 effective date for section (4) Required Elections

December 31, 1992 effective date for remainder

January 14, 1993 – Gov Roy Romer signed the resolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov 08

Report touts Colorado’s TABOR as ‘gold standard’ for state tax policy

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Report touts Colorado’s TABOR as ‘gold standard’ for state tax policy

Paul Brady Photography | Shutterstock

(The Center Square) – Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is the “gold standard” for state tax policy, a new report argues.

The report, by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a free-market group that’s known for drafting model legislation adopted in Republican-led states, comes amid the 30th anniversary of TABOR, the constitutional amendment that Colorado voters passed in 1992.

TABOR requires voter approval for tax increases and limits state revenue growth to inflation plus the rate of population growth. It also requires revenue surpluses to be refunded back to taxpayers.

“TABOR is a resounding success for Colorado, despite ongoing attempts to eliminate it,” said Dr. Barry Poulson, author of the report and a professor emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder. “TABOR uses a straightforward formula for limiting the size and scope of government by capping the rate of growth in state revenue and spending to inflation plus the rate of population growth.”

TABOR contrasts with California’s Gann Amendment, which the report says was “watered down” by special interests. Continue reading →

Oct 29

Maybe it’s time to call off one-party rule in Colorado

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October 28, 2022

Maybe it’s time to call off one-party rule in Colorado

By C.S. Boddie

 

Colorado has been under one-party rule by the Democrats for two or three elections now.  It’s a mess.  One of the people who helped create the mess, state senator Brittany Pettersen, is now running for Congress against Republican Erik Aadland in Colorado’s redrawn CD7.  Voters are making their choice right now.

Will Coloradoans elect Pettersen to a higher office?  Seems as though it would be failing her upward as Democrats did with Biden, and we see how that turned out.

During the recent 9News Debate, where journalists tossed softballs at Pettersen, the Democrat was first described in a voiceover as a Democratic state senator Brittany Pettersen who has focused on support for working families, mental health care and substance abuse issues.

Let’s focus on the phrase “working families” here.  Has Pettersen really supported them?  We can check her words for clues.

Pettersen’s website reads, “As a Colorado legislator, I passed the nation’s strongest Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, Colorado’s Red Flag law, and the Secure Savings Act.”  The first one seems supportive of working people, but it’s also a liberal darling.  The other two do not seem to relate; whether or not those accomplishments benefited working families is questionable.

Inflation is the top concern of working families; they are being harmed by record inflation in Colorado every day.  What has Pettersen said about inflation?  The word “inflation” does not appear anywhere on the candidate’s website.  However, the website is chock-full of Democrat canned phrases and talking points, which echo Governor Polis and President Biden.

Pettersen claims that as a state senator, she ensured that every Colorado taxpayer received a $750 check in July to provide relief in this difficult time (still referring to the pandemic).  The truth is that citizens received a refund because of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), not because of Pettersen.  Democrats just made the payment happen earlier so that it could be used as a talking point for the election.

The website does include another bit about rising prices without mentioning the word “inflation”: “Prices for everything are going up because big corporations are increasing costs in a time of crisis while they are making record profits, and politicians in Washington aren’t putting our families first.  In the Colorado Senate, Brittany sponsored legislation to hold companies accountable for price gouging and will do the same in Congress.”

Nothing about how Democrats spending like drunken sailors has caused record inflation.  Nothing about how the Democrats’ war on oil and gas has raised prices on everything.  Oh, but she cut the gas tax in Colorado.

Pettersen’s website says, “In Congress, Brittany will fight to help address critical workforce needs by passing loan forgiveness programs in areas like education and health care.”  How does that address inflation?

How can a candidate help working families in Congress if she does not even recognize what a problem inflation is for them or admit that the source of inflation is government spending?

On taxes, Pettersen’s website repeats another old, false Democrat chestnut: “She will fight to repeal the 2017 Trump tax cuts that only benefited the wealthy and largest corporations, and will work to help give breaks to the middle class who have been left holding the bag for far too long.”  Seems like every candidate needs to get Trump’s name out there somehow.

What about crime?  Crime is another great concern of working families in Colorado.  How can they get to work on time if their car is stolen?  Car thefts have greatly increased while Pettersen has been in the state Senate.  Any ideas?

Nope.  No mention of crime and what she will do to reduce crime.  But she does mention protecting democracy.

How can Pettersen bring answers to one of the biggest concerns of our state’s working families when she doesn’t even mention crime as she is running to be their next representative in Congress?  And, by the way, the USA is representative democracy or a constitutional republic, not a direct democracy; shouldn’t a candidate who wants to represent people in Congress know that and not just parrot the talking points of her party’s elite?

By focusing only on the phrase “working families,” one can see a picture emerging of who Brittany Pettersen will be in Congress, and the picture is not a good one.  She may be another Squad member.  She will likely be only a rubber stamp for Democrats’ harmful policies that do not help, that do harm, working families all across the USA.

As for mental health and substance abuse issues, well, Pettersen cosponsored a bill to create heroin safe injection sites, but it did not go to a vote.  She sponsored a useless bill to fix flawed fentanyl law.  Enough said.

Let’s not fail Brittany Pettersen up into a seat in Congress.

C.S. Boddie writes for Meadowlark Press.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/10/maybe_its_time_to_call_off_oneparty_rule_in_colorado.html