Category Archives: Legal Issues

Aug 22

El Paso County commissioners to mull placing tax question on November ballot

Posted on by

El Paso County commissioners to mull placing tax question on November ballot

081021-news-tabor
A man holds his son’s hand while his other child rides in a carrier on his back, adorned in a bear hat, during a Bear Run at Bear Creek Regional Park event in this file photo from November 2019.

The Gazette file

El Paso County commissioners will take a closer look this month at a proposed November ballot question that, if voters approve, would use $15 million in excess government revenue to fund road infrastructure projects and deferred parks maintenance county officials say are sorely needed.

Commissioners will discuss the possible ballot question during the board’s regularly scheduled meetings Aug. 17 and 24. Residents can come to these hearings to offer input on the possible question before commissioners vote on whether it will make it onto the November ballot. Commissioners expect to vote on the matter Aug. 24.

Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, ties increases in most local government revenues to a formula based on population growth and inflation. Excesses can only be used for voter-approved purposes.

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

Aug 22

Castle Rock looks to voters to ‘de-Bruce’ for 10 years

Posted on by

TABOR pause would pay for road improvements, police and fire personnel

Posted 
Thelma Grimes
tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com

In November, the Town of Castle Rock will ask taxpayers to pause TABOR for 10 years. TABOR, known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, was approved in the 1990s, changing the state’s constitution to require all tax increases be approved by voters, limiting how much local and state government can spend.

Castle Rock Town Manager David Corliss said he has no problem with the part of TABOR that requires residents to approve tax increases. However, the restrictions and limits TABOR can put on a municipality to keep up with the cost of growth is a problem, he said.

TABOR is a state tax and expenditure limit that includes the following elements: It is a Colorado constitutional amendment; it restricts revenue or expenditure growth to the sum of inflation plus population change; and it requires voter approval to override the revenue or spending limits.

Colorado is the only state in the nation with TABOR.

Castle Rock Town Attorney Michael Hyman is no stranger to how TABOR has created controversy and issues for state and local municipalities trying to balance a budget. In the 1990s when TABOR was passed by voters, Hyman worked for the City of Aurora.

Click (HERE) to continue reading the rest of this story

Aug 11

Mark Hillman: State Democrats ignore voters’ voices

Posted on by

Mark Hillman: State Democrats ignore voters’ voices

By MARK HILLMAN |

August 11, 2021 at 7:30 a.m.

Gov. Jared Polis and Progressive Democrat majorities at the Ssate Capitol have spent the past three years ignoring clearly-expressed voices of Colorado voters on tax and economic issues. In fact, Progressive Democrats’ disregard for many of the same voters who elected them has become so brazen that they seem to be daring voters to hold them accountable.

With commanding majorities of 41-24 in the House of Representatives and 20-15 in the state Senate, it’s understandable that Democrats are developing a sense of invincibility.

However, it remains to be seen if the Democrats’ recent surge — in 2017, they held a 34-31 margin in the House, while Republicans had an 18-17 majority in the Senate — is due to their own popularity or because Donald Trump irritated many Colorado voters.

In 2018, Colorado voters rejected (59%-40%) a tax increase to raise $700 million a year for highways and transportation. In that same election, voters said “no” (55%-45%) to draconian restrictions on oil and gas development across the state. Polis, campaigning for governor, claimed to oppose those severe oil-and-gas restrictions.

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

Aug 11

Submitting FOR or AGAINST statements in your local TABOR ballot issue notice

Posted on by

 Submitting FOR or AGAINST statements in your local TABOR ballot issue notice

One great though lesser-known benefit provided in the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) is the local ballot issue notice. This guide is sent by mail at least 30-days before the election to all households with one or more registered voters.

The TABOR ballot issue notice includes content and details about upcoming ballot issues which increase taxes, add debt, or suspend government revenue limits. It includes a section where registered electors have the opportunity to submit FOR or AGAINST comments, up to 500 words each.

You should know that there are two types of TABOR ballot issue notices. One notice is for the statewide elections and commonly referred to as the “Blue Book.” The other notice is for elections held by local governments such as a town, school district, or special district. You could potentially get more than one of these in the mail.

Several years back, Dennis Polhill challenged the Colorado Union of Taxpayers by pointing out that of some 300 tax issues statewide during a ballot year, only 15 had the taxpayer’s voice printed in a ballot issue notice.  That’s only 5 percent!  You can make a big difference and amplify your voice by being an author of the next ballot issue notice submittal.  May we count on you please to participate?    Considering that you reach thousands of voters, being able to submit comments in the TABOR notice costs almost nothing and takes relatively little time & energy.

Continue reading →

Jun 16

Town of Estes Park loses its case to reclaim legal fees in TABOR lawsuit

Posted on by

Larimer County District Court Judge Juan Villaseñor rejected the Town of Estes Park’s claim it was due to be repaid legal fees for a failed case brought against the town by three residents. The ruling came down on Friday, June 11.

Todd A. Jirsa, William G. Van Horn and Richard K. Grigsby filed suit against the Town of Estes Park on December 3, 2020, claiming the Town “violated (and is continuing to violate) the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights” also known as TABOR.”

The suit — which was dismissed on April 1 — alleged that the town violated TABOR after it spent millions of dollars in taxpayer money on the Downtown Estes Loop Project without ever holding a public vote.

A judge found that not to be the case, ruling none of the funds spent by the town on the Loop were taxpayer’s dollars, meaning there could be no violation of TABOR

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

Jun 15

Colorado Supreme Court Rules On The Hospital Provider SB-267 Appeal

Posted on by

As the Colorado Supreme Court will not take up the appeal of the case, then the ruling of the lower Court of Appeals is the final say.  That panel found that the TABOR Foundation did not have standing and could not continue the case on the merits.  Imagine, taxpayers spend $400 million more each year and they don’t have standing!  The Court appears to have dropped any attempt to be true to the Colorado constitution and to respect that citizens are (supposed to be) in charge of their governments.

Order of Court–pet. for Cert.–tabor Found. v. Colorado by The Forum on Scribd

Jun 03

Lawmakers looking at end run around ballot question on property tax cut

Posted on by
taxes
Photo by Mark Buckawicki courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

A bill proposed in the waning days of the General Assembly would rewrite how property taxes are classified, but more directly could work around a question about lowering property taxes on the November ballot.

Colorado Politics obtained a draft of the bill to be introduced late Wednesday by Sen. Chris Hansen, a Denver Democrat, and Sen. Bob Rankin, a Carbondale Republican, to turn the two property tax classifications, commercial and residential, into five or perhaps six divisions.

In the House, the bill’s prime sponsor is Majority Leader Daneya Esgar of Pueblo.

To read the rest of this story, please click (HERE):

 

Jun 03

Interrogatory On House Bill 21-1164 TABOR Public School Finance Act

Posted on by

On May 24, 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court continued its crusade against the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. It allowed the General Assembly, yet again, to maneuver around TABOR’s constitutional restrictions and effectively raise taxes without getting the required voter approval. The procedure used by the General Assembly was the unusual one of submitting Interrogatories to the Supreme Court, which ask whether their proposed scheme is allowed, prior to passing the law.

At issue were the mill levy rates in 174 separate school districts. The voters in all of these districts had, with varying language and circumstances, voted to exempt their districts from the necessity of returning excess revenues to their taxpayers.  The districts were then impacted by the Colorado Department of Education’s determination that, in order to prevent revenues from increasing, they had to lower their mill levies as property values increased, and therefore, property tax revenues increased.

The legislature proposed, and now has passed, a complex plan to eliminate tax credits, which it created just last year, gradually over the course of the next 19 years. Of course, the State imposition of higher mill levies and its elimination of tax credits will raise taxes. Given the increase in Colorado property values, the increases will be significant.

The TABOR Foundation, filed a friend of the court (“amicus”) brief, written by attorney Rebecca Sopkin.  The TABOR Foundation’s participation gave you a voice in this matter.  The filing protested this clear evasion of the requirement that voters approve any increases in their taxes.

Justice Brian Boatwright, in a well written dissent, pointed out that taxpayers “will see an increase in their mill levy rates as a result of” the proposed legislation, HB1164. He then noted that “[t]he voters today did not approve of this, and neither did the voters in the late 1990s.”  The court majority, however, disregarded the obvious impact of this legislation and gave its tax increases the green light.

Colorad Supreme Cout Opinion by The Forum on Scribd

May 21

Colorado Democrats want to use one of TABOR’s most effective tax-halting mechanisms for themselves

Posted on by

House Bill 1321 comes as progressives have all but given up on doing away with TABOR, the 1992 constitutional amendment that has served as a third rail in Colorado politics ever since its passage

Jesse Paul
3:15 AM MDT on May 21, 2021

One of the most effective parts of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights when it comes to stopping tax-raising ballot questions in Colorado is a requirement that voters be informed, IN CAPITAL LETTERS, about the eye-popping sum they are deciding whether to allow the government to collect.

“SHALL STATE TAXES BE INCREASED $766,700,000 ANNUALLY FOR A TWENTY-YEAR PERIOD?” Proposition 110, which was focused on raising money for transportation projects, scream-asked voters in 2018. (It failed.)

Now, Democrats are trying to adapt that potent TABOR transparency tool for their own purposes.

House Bill 1321, a measure introduced at the Capitol this week, would require voters to be informed of which programs would be affected by ballot questions decreasing taxes.

The legislation would require the following language be attached to tax-reducing ballot measures: “Shall funding available for state services that include, but are not limited to, (the three largest areas of program expenditures) be impacted by a reduction of (projected dollar figure of revenue reduction to the state in the first full fiscal year that the measure reduces revenue) in tax revenue…?”

The bill would also mandate that ballots containing tax questions highlight how many people in which tax brackets would be most affected by tax hikes or decreases, and require that ballot titles for tax increases state that the aim is to “increase or improve levels of public services” and then list those services.

“It’s an attempt to provide more information and level the playing field,” said Carol Hedges, who leads the liberal-leaning Colorado Fiscal Institute, which supports the measure. “Currently, the all-caps language focuses people’s attention only on the size of state government. We know that the size of state government is not the only factor people should be considering.”

Scott Wasserman, who leads the Bell Policy Center, a liberal advocacy organization, called the measure “a great idea” that seeks to offset what he sees as the manipulative aspects of TABOR.

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

 

May 15

Movement on Kerr vs. Polis Lawsuit

Posted on by

During this past week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held Oral Argument on May 10, 2021.  The case is in the appellate phase after the District Judge found that the Plaintiffs do not have standing.

For more background and details on the case, go to our web file.  The latest action of your TABOR Foundation was to join a friend-of-the-court legal argument.