Study finds special interest tax deals eating up Coloradans’ TABOR refunds
August 9, 2024 By Savana Kascak
DENVER–Governor Jared Polis has consistently said he wants to lower the Colorado income tax, even claiming that legislation passed earlier this year would deliver on that promise. But new research shows that billions of dollars in special interest tax breaks also passed this year in all likelihood means broad-based income tax relief is off the table for the foreseeable future.
Earlier this year, Governor Polis signed Senate Bill 24-228, temporarily lowering the state income tax rate, on a sliding scale, as a refund mechanism when surplus revenue under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) is more than $300 million in a given fiscal year, with the maximum rate reduction (from 4.40% to 4.25%) kicking in at a $1.5 billion surplus.
TABOR is a constitutional amendment that requires, among other things, state revenues collected in excess of of a formula of population growth plus inflation be refunded back to taxpayers, unless voters consent to forgo those refunds at the ballot box. An income tax rate reduction is but one potential refund mechanism available to the state. Continue reading
