Advance Colorado Executive Vice President Kristi Burton Brown gives a brief history and explanation of Colorado’s unique taxpayer protection: the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. This revenue cap limits the state government’s ability to spend taxpayer dollars and requires refunds to be sent to Coloradans when the government collects beyond the limit.
The joint resolution only has until Wednesday to pass, before the General Assembly adjourns sine die. It hasn’t moved in the chamber since April 10, when it was laid over.
TABOR is the constitutional amendment passed by voters in 1992 that requires voter approval for all tax increases. The amendment also limits state revenue growth to inflation plus the rate of population growth, with the intent of controlling state spending. TABOR also requires any revenue surplus to be refunded to taxpayers.
DENVER — A Democratic-led effort to challenge Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) will not advance before the legislative session ends Wednesday, despite the party’s complete control of state government.
State Rep. Sean Camacho, D-Denver, who sponsored a resolution to initiate a lawsuit seeking to have TABOR ruled unconstitutional, confirmed the measure will not receive a vote before midnight, ensuring the resolution will not have enough time to go through all the steps in the House and Senate by Wednesday.
“It is not happening,” Camacho said.
He did not know why it was not being put to a vote, and as of Monday night, a spokesman for House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillion, had not responded to an 12:35 p.m. text message regarding the vote.
TABOR, which has been state law since 1992, limits how much revenue Colorado can collect and spend each year. It also requires refunds to taxpayers when the state exceeds those limits. Democrats have increasingly cited TABOR as the reason behind this year’s $1 billion in state spending cuts.
To continue reading the rest of this story, click (HERE) to go to 9 News
Colorado taxpayers and voters are on high alert after the introduction of House Joint Resolution HJR25-1023, sponsored by Democrat Representatives Sean Camacho and Lorena García and Democrat Senators. Lindsey Daugherty and Iman Jodeh. This resolution would initiate a taxpayer-funded lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). TABOR was a citizen-initiated, and Colorado voter-approved, constitutional measure in 1992 and has been protecting taxpayers for over thirty years. Republican Representatives and Senators have publicly and vigorously expressed opposition to the resolution.
Ironically, this legal attack, led by Democrat sponsors, would be paid for by the very people TABOR was designed to protect.
The sponsors argue that TABOR violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of a “republican form of government” — claiming that only elected lawmakers should decide tax policy, not voters. But that argument flatly contradicts Colorado’s own history and the words of a former Democratic governor.
In August 1910, Governor John F. Shafroth called a special legislative session to enshrine the citizen right to initiative and referendum into the Colorado Constitution. His message to the General Assembly, reprinted in The Walsenburg World (Aug. 11, 1910), made the purpose clear:
“The law of the Initiative and Referendum places the government nearer to the people, and that has always been the aim of the framers of all republican forms of government.”
A Democrat said that. And yet in 2025, Democrats are sponsoring a resolution to sue the people for using those very rights.
Last Thursday, I hand-delivered that quote and the historical context to legislators — sliding it under many office doors in hopes it would be read without me there. In the chaos of the session’s final days, I can only hope some of them reflect on how far their party has drifted.
There are rumors the sponsors might delay action on the resolution this session out of political caution and risking their seats in fiscally conservative districts. But don’t relax — they’ve already said they are preparing a 2026 ballot measure to dismantle TABOR. It’s predicted to resemble 2005’s Ref C, so voters should brace for misleading ballot language and long-term consequences.
Here’s what Ref C did: Taxpayers forfeited TABOR refunds for 5-years and let the state permanently keep billions beyond the voter-approved revenue cap.
REF C fiscal impact:
From 1992 – 2004, TABOR has refunded about $11.98 billion to taxpayers.
In contrast, Ref C has allowed the state to retain over $37.23 billion. That’s three times more money kept by government than returned to the people.
That $37.23 billion is in addition to the allowed reasonable TABOR cap of letting government tax revenue grow by inflation + population.
That’s what’s at stake — not just dollars, but your constitutional right to say no.
Natalie Menten
TABOR Board Member
It’s available along with some other datasets—if you know where to look.
? Like here: https://leg.colorado.gov/publications/fiscal-note-reports-2025
A new Democrat-backed bill moving rapidly through the Colorado legislature poses a serious threat to one of the most fundamental rights in our state Constitution: the right of citizens to initiate laws through the petition process.
And hot on the heels of that is yet another legislative attack on the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).
House Bill 25-1327, which has already passed both the House and the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, would significantly restrict the ability of Coloradans to bring citizen initiatives forward. Among other provisions, it shortens an already tight timeline for title-setting, imposes new procedural hurdles, and adds new fines of up to $1,500 on petition organizers for non-compliance with reporting requirements. Continue reading
By Mark Hillman | Colorado Politics
Lawmakers and special interests routinely ask Colorado voters to raise taxes so they can spend more of our money. Most often, voters say, “No!”
Now certain “progressive” Democrat lawmakers plan to use our own tax dollars to sue us for limiting their power to raise our taxes.
That’s disgusting even by the gutter standards of this legislature.
Having demonstrated their contempt for the rights of law-abiding Coloradans to exercise freedom of speech and to keep and bear arms as protected by the U.S. Constitution, Democrats at our State Capitol now want us to believe they care about respecting that same Constitution.
Led by Reps. Sean Camacho (D-Denver) and Lorena Garcia (D-Adams County) and Sens. Lindsay Daugherty (D-Arvada) and Iman Jodeh (D-Aurora), Democrats have proposed a resolution (HJR 1023) to order the state to initiate a lawsuit challenging the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (aka TABOR) in our state constitution.
Defending TABOR is the state’s responsibility, but no one currently holding statewide elected office publicly supports TABOR, so Colorado taxpayers have a right to believe the deck is stacked to screw us.
Priscilla Rahn @RahnforDougCo
If you’re reading this, pause and send a letter to your CO Rep/Senator. Here is my letter on Res 1023 (Lawsuit to eliminate TABOR.) Can you believe Democrats want to use our public tax dollars to sue “WE THE PEOPLE?” HANDS OFF TABOR!
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To the Honorable Members of the Colorado General Assembly,
I write to you in opposition of House Joint Resolution 25-1023, which seeks to challenge the constitutionality of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution.
This resolution proposes a lawsuit alleging that TABOR violates the Guarantee Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Colorado Enabling Act by limiting the legislature’s authority over taxation and spending.
The claims against TABOR are constitutionally unsound and ignore both the sovereign will of the people of Colorado and foundational principles of federalism and state constitutional self-determination.
1. TABOR Is a Legitimate Exercise of Constitutional Amendment Power
The Colorado Constitution, Article V, Section 1, enshrines the power of the people to legislate through initiative and referendum, a principle established since our state’s founding. This power includes the ability to amend the Constitution directly — as was done with the adoption of TABOR in 1992.
2. The Guarantee Clause Does Not Prohibit Direct Democracy
The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently treated claims under this clause as nonjusticiable political questions. The presence of direct democracy in a state — such as ballot initiatives — has never been held to violate the republican form of government. Many states, including Colorado, have long utilized ballot measures as an enhancement to representative democracy, not a threat to it.
3. TABOR Reinforces Accountability and Fiscal Restraint
TABOR was adopted after years of public concern over unchecked government spending and tax increases. It does not abolish the legislature’s power — it simply requires consent from voters before taxes are raised or new debt is incurred.
TABOR protects Coloradans by ensuring:
• Transparency in budgeting and taxation
• Taxpayer control over fiscal expansion
• A clear and predictable structure for government finance.
4. TABOR Reflects the Ongoing Will of the People
TABOR has survived multiple attempts at repeal or revision, and the voters have repeatedly affirmed its core protections. Any legislative attempt to sue the people’s will out of existence — without first repealing TABOR through democratic means — risks undermining public confidence in both this body and our constitutional process.
Instead of litigating against the will of the people, I urge you to honor our voices.
#HandsOffTABOR
#DontBeFooled
#ItsYourMoneyNotTheirs
#TABOR
#FollowTheLaw
#FeesAreTaxes
#VoteOnFees
#ReplaceThemAllForNotFollowingVotersWishes
https://x.com/RahnforDougCo/status/1911082221416349714
