Aug 17

Menten: Honest voter guide needed to counter Proposition HH deception

Posted on August 17, 2023 by thetabor

Menten: Honest voter guide needed to counter Proposition HH deception

August 15, 2023 By Natalie Menten

In October 2023, Colorado voters are going to get a ballot information guide, nicknamed the Blue Book (it literally has a blue cover page) in the mail prior to the arrival of their actual ballots.

This year the Blue Book will cover the two statewide tax increases – Proposition II and HH.

Common questions during the election include who phrases the ballot questions and who writes the Blue Book. This is especially true when ballot questions are deceptively worded like Proposition HH, which paints pictures of pies in the sky without disclosing the real intent to screw you out of your Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds for at least the next 10 years, and likely forever.

The Blue Book is where you can make a difference. You get to participate and no expertise is needed. There’s a special reason that you’re especially needed this year.

Slick politicians wrote the Prop HH ballot language and rushed it through the state legislature without responsible notice to the public. A recent survey indicates 2/3 of voters will vote for Proposition HH if they read only the deceptive and misleading ballot question that state Representatives Chris deGruy Kennedy and Mike Weissman, and Senators Steve Fenberg and Chris Hansen cunningly wrote.

It’s up to us to ensure content in the ballot guide provides a full and clear picture to voters. Otherwise, the majority of the players at the table are the very politicians who hate spending limits and TABOR, like the sponsors of Prop HH (Senate Bill 23-303). Continue reading →

Aug 03

David Flaherty CEO of Magellan Strategies Talks About Proposition HH

Posted on August 3, 2023 by thetabor

David Flaherty is CEO of Magellan Strategies, a CO-based public opinion polling and survey research firm. He recently did an interesting poll about Proposition HH, a measure on this November’s ballot which will slightly lower property tax rates while all but eliminating (over several years) TABOR refunds. It’s a disgusting and cynical ploy which I will work hard to defeat. The poll’s findings are interesting: in short, people like HH until they understand it. The implications are obvious.

Colorado Proposition HH Opinion Survey | Magellan Strategies

Colorado Proposition HH poll shows mixed support, opposition (denverpost.com)

I also want to know: How do pollsters inform respondents about an issue, to test uninformed vs informed, without injecting bias into the question?

Click the following link to hear a recording of the show:

#DontBeFooled
#ItsYourMoneyNotTheirs
#VoteNoOnPropHH
#TABOR

Aug 03

Voters Polled On Proposition HH

Posted on August 3, 2023 by thetabor

It’s important to educate the voter on Prop HH. 44% of people will vote against it if they know enough about it.

2 key takeaways that every voter should know:

Prop HH will take away your TABOR tax refund.
Local governments will be able to keep money owed to you without asking your permission.

Here are the results of Magellan’s Polling survey: https://magellanstrategies.com/proposition-hh-survey/

And the Polling presentation: https://magellanstrategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Colorado-Proposition-HH-Voter-Opinion-Survey-Presentation-071223.pdf

Here are some stats at a glance:

Prop HH Familiarity

41% of total voters are unfamiliar with the proposal
42% of men are not familiar at all with the proposal
41% of women are not familiar at all with the proposal
48% of Democrat voters are not familiar at all with the proposal
38% of Unaffiliated voters are not familiar at all with the proposal
38% of Republicans are not familiar all with the proposal
47% of Latinos are not familiar at all with the proposal
44% of Blacks are not familiar at all with the proposal

Uninformed Ballot (of people who don’t understand what HH will do).

68% of Democrat voters approve
50% of Unaffiliated voters approve
44% of Republican voters approve

Losing TABOR refunds and letting the state retain the money

26% of Democrats voters reject
55% of Unaffiliated voters reject
75% of Republican voters reject
44% of Latino voters reject
52% of Black voters reject

Participatory Taxation *

61% of men reject the proposal
54% of women reject the proposal
52% of voters 18 -34 reject the proposal
63% of voters 35 – 44 reject the proposal
44% of Democrat voters reject the proposal
61% of Unaffiliated voters reject the proposal
67% of Republicans reject the proposal
54% of Hispanic voters reject the proposal
69% of Black voters reject the proposal

* If Prop HH is approved, a new process called “Participatory Taxation” or “Truth in

Taxation” would be created for local governments to consider. This process would allow a

majority of local government elected officials to vote to retain property tax revenue that

would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers. To clarify, elected officials, rather than voters,

would decide to keep property tax revenue.

#DontBeFooled
#ItsYourMoneyNotTheirs
#VoteNoOnPropHH
#TABOR

Jul 13

Protecting Colorado Taxpayers and Preserving TABOR: Jonathan Williams on American Radio Journal

Posted on July 13, 2023 by thetabor

ALEC Executive Vice President of Policy and Chief Economist Jonathan Williams discusses an upcoming Colorado ballot measure that would expand government spending and weaken Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), the nation’s strongest taxpayer protection.

The progressive push to undermine common sense checks on government spending is never-ending. It’s evidenced recently by the debate over the federal debt limit in Washington DC. The latest push is happening in Colorado as progressives are once again attempting to undermine the taxpayers’ Bill of Rights or TABOR, which is the gold standard of a state constitutional limit on overspending and overtaxing. It was adopted by voters as a state constitutional amendment back in 1992. It has helped restrain the growth of government and return billions of dollars to Colorado taxpayers.

However, the upcoming ballot measure in Colorado if approved, would gut TABOR in exchange for small, short-term cuts to property tax. Known as Proposition HH, this proposal tempts voters with the allure of a property tax cut with its real purpose is to clearly to water down TABOR’s tax and spending limits. My friend Ben Murray, Director of fiscal policy at the Independence Institute, described the package as a boondoggle of a property tax plan. The attacks on TABOR aren’t new. The property tax cut quote unquote, is the only latest gimmick to attempt to unleash the leviathan of big government on hardworking Coloradoans.

As the ALEC team explained in the National Review on the recent 30th anniversary of TABOR, TABOR has seen no shortage of progressive attacks which serves as an acknowledgement of the danger it presents to those that would like no constraints on the government’s ability to grow. Though all states except Bernie Sanders of Vermont have some sort of a balanced budget requirements in state law or their constitution, most don’t have robust protections such as that what TABOR offers.

https://alec.org/article/protecting-colorado-taxpayers-and-preserving-tabor-jonathan-williams-on-american-radio-journal/

Jul 12

Proposition HH Panel Discussion On Wednesday, August 2

Posted on July 12, 2023 by thetabor

Hear Ben Murrey, Kristi Burton Brown, Douglas County Assessor Toby Damisch and Treasurer Dave Gill take questions from Kim Monson on Property Taxes, TABOR, mill rates, and Assessed values.

Jun 20

Coloradans can expect another TABOR windfall. How much depends on voters in November

Posted on June 20, 2023 by thetabor

Coloradans can expect another TABOR windfall. How much depends on voters in November

Story by Nick Coltrain, The Denver Post • 5h ago

Gov. Jared Polis signed SB23-303, Reduce Property Taxes and Voter-approved Revenue Change and SB23-304, Property Tax Valuation in front of the home of Joe Lloyd Medina, 78, in Commerce City on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.© Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado economic forecasters predict another tax refund windfall next spring — though how Coloradans receive the excess collections depends on how they vote this November.

Forecasters for both the legislative and executive branches expect tax collections subject to Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, caps to exceed $3.3 billion. That would be near the prior year’s record that lawmakers refunded through direct checks last fall. Following year forecasts still show excess collections, though not nearly as eye-popping.

Opponents are arguing its passage would lead to a long-term vacuuming of tax dollars that would otherwise be returned to taxpayers. Supporters, including Gov. Jared Polis and many lawmakers, argue the measure is necessary to backfill local governments and services whole while saving property owners hundreds of dollars a year in higher taxes driven by skyrocketing property values.

As an additional carrot, lawmakers attached a one-year, flat TABOR refund to the proposal passing. Economic forecasters with the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting predict individual taxpayers would receive $873 per filer — if HH passes. Forecasters for the legislative branch, who estimate a slightly lower breach of the TABOR cap, predict it would be about $854.

If Proposition HH doesn’t pass, the state would revert to the six-tier refund mechanism that gives lower-income taxpayers lower refund amounts, and higher-income taxpayers higher refunds, under the philosophy that higher-income taxpayers paid more into the overcollected taxes.

Continue reading →

Jun 20

Coloradans have voted on 36 TABOR-related ballot measures since 1993, rejecting 69% of them

Posted on June 20, 2023 by thetabor

Coloradans have voted on 36 TABOR-related ballot measures since 1993, rejecting 69% of them

By Jackie Mitchell

In Ballot measures

June 19, 2023 at 9:57 PM

Coloradans have decided on 36 statewide ballot measures that were designed to increase revenue for the state, which required voter approval under TABOR. Of the 36 measures, 11 (30.56%) were approved and 25 (69.44%) were defeated.

Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), adopted in 1992, was designed to require statewide voter approval of all new taxes, tax rate increases, extensions of expiring taxes, mill levy increases, valuation for property assessment increases, or tax policy changes resulting in increased tax revenue.

Of the 36 measures, 17 were referred to the ballot by the state legislature and 19 were placed on the ballot through citizen initiative petitions. Of the 11 approved measures, 10 were referred to the ballot by the state legislature and one was a citizen initiative.

Highlights:

14 of the measures were designed to increase a tax. Of the 14 measures, two were approved and 12 were defeated. In 2004, voters approved an initiative to increase the tobacco tax to fund educational and healthcare programs. In 2020, voters approved a measure placed on the ballot by the state legislature to increase tobacco taxes and create a tax on nicotine products to fund health and education programs.

Continue reading →