Category Archives: Media

Jul 17

Bed tax law suit gets new life

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Bed tax law suit gets new life

DENVER — Ongoing litigation against the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing, among others, over a 2009 program that raised taxes via a “hospital provider fee,” has new energy after Cause of Action Institute announced earlier this month it would take on the representation of the plaintiffs in the case.

Cause of Action is a Washington D.C.-based 501(c)(3) organization that according to its website advocates for “economic freedom and individual opportunity advanced by honest, accountable, and limited government.”

Plaintiffs, who were originally represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation, had 60 days to find new counsel after Mountain States withdrew for reasons not related to the case or the plaintiffs.

Lee Steven and James Valvo are the lead attorneys. The Colorado-licensed attorney is Michael Francisco, who while working in the Colorado Attorney General’s office helped to write the defense of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Kerr vs. Hickenlooper, which claimed TABOR was a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of a republican form of government. That argument lost.

This case was initially filed in 2015. It asserts the state’s Hospital Provider Fee is actually a tax enacted in violation of the TABOR. Continue reading →

Jul 16

Protecting Taxpayers with Supermajority Requirements

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Protecting Taxpayers with Supermajority Requirements

Cartoon workingman reluctantly paying taxes. (Photo: AdobeStock/PPD/Adiano)

CARTOON WORKINGMAN RELUCTANTLY PAYING TAXES. (PHOTO: ADOBESTOCK/PPD/ADIANO)

The best budget rule in the United States is Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Known as TABOR, this provision in the state’s constitution says revenues can’t grow faster than population plus inflation. Any revenue greater than that amount must be returned to taxpayers.

Combined with the state’s requirement for a balanced budget, this means Colorado has a de facto spending cap (similar to what exists in Switzerland and Hong Kong).

The second-best budget rule is probably a requirement that tax increases can’t be imposed without a supermajority vote by the legislature.

The underlying theory is very simple. It won’t be easy for politicians to increase the burden of government spending if they can’t also raise taxes. Particularly since states generally have some form of rule requiring a balanced budget.

Basically a version of “Starve the Beast.”

Anyhow, according to the National Council of State Legislatures, 14 states have some type of supermajority requirements.

And more states are considering this reform.

Continue reading →

Jul 16

High Court decision could send internet sales taxes to Durango

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High Court decision could send internet sales taxes to Durango

New revenue would help, but not solve, city’s long-term budget deficit
By Mary Shinn City & health reporter

Sunday, July 15, 2018 7:30 PM
A U.S. Supreme Court decision on internet sales could bring the city of Durango additional sales tax revenue. But unanswered questions surround the new revenue.

JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald file

Continue reading →

Jul 16

Mesa County to host TABOR discussion

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Residents are invited to learn more about the Mesa County Commission’s proposed ballot question to exempt state grants from the revenue and spending limitations of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, at a town hall meeting on Tuesday, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Old County Courthouse, 544 Rood Ave., in the public hearing room on the second floor.

The commissioners are considering a ballot question to exempt state grants from the county’s TABOR cap, without increasing any taxes. Most of the state grants the county receives are for infrastructure projects, “so this actually grows the private sector, not county government, which should be limited,” Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese said.

Pugliese also said, “This would include pass-through grants for our nonprofits like Mind Springs. If we continue to turn away grants, our taxpayer money will continue to go to the state and be used in other communities for their projects.”

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/county-to-host-tabor-discussion/article_02f2c588-88b3-11e8-bf60-10604b9ffe60.html

Jul 16

Bed tax law suit gets new life

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Ongoing litigation against the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing, among others, over a 2009 program that raised taxes via a “hospital provider fee,” has new energy after Cause of Action Institute announced earlier this month it would take on the representation of the plaintiffs in the case.

Cause of Action is a Washington D.C.-based 501(c)(3) organization that according to its website advocates for “economic freedom and individual opportunity advanced by honest, accountable, and limited government.”

Plaintiffs, who were originally represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation, had 60 days to find new counsel after Mountain States withdrew for reasons not related to the case or the plaintiffs. Continue reading →

Jul 12

Motion to return Grand Lake municipal fee funds narrowly fails

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Motion to return Grand Lake municipal fee funds narrowly fails

Lance Maggart / Sky-Hi News

Grand Lake resident Tom Weydert, who is also Grand County Assessor, addresses the Grand Lake Trustees Monday night to express his support for rescinding the municipal fee approved by the town board late last year.

Grand Lake’s contentious municipal fee, approved last fall by the town’s trustees, was back on the agenda this week as town council members discussed potentially returning the fees already levied by the town.

Monday evening the town board voted four-to-three against a motion by Trustee Tom Goodfellow to fully rescind Grand Lake’s municipal fee and to return funds already received by the town back to the citizens who paid those fees. The vote saw trustee Goodfellow voting in favor of the action along with trustees Cindy Southway and Tom Bruton. Voting against the measure were trustees Phyllis Price, Andy Murphy, Steve Kudron and Mayor Jim Peterson.

The vote came at the end of a public meeting that included public comments and significant discussion of the fee and its history over the past several months. Grand Lake area residents Greg Barnes, Tom Weydert and Mike Tompkins all addressed the board expressing their vehement opposition to the fee.

“I think the money should be returned and fairly quickly,” Barnes said. “I don’t think it is fair to begin with.”

Continue reading →

Jun 28

The big winner tonight is… TABOR!

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The big winner tonight is… TABOR!  

mmJon Caldara  AUTHOR

As I’m watching the numbers roll in tonight from Colorado’s primary elections, I just had to tell you what the news might not pick up on, even if they noticed it. The big winner in tonight’s Republican Primary is our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

You might recall last year several weak-kneed Republicans in the state legislature worked with 100% of the Democrats to blow a massive hole in TABOR. Senate Bill 267 labeled a giant tax hike as a “fee” and a $2 billion debt package as “certificates of participation” as a way to avoid going to the voters as required by TABOR. The end result is that while Trump gave you an income tax cut, these Republicans took it all away, without even asking.

Tonight Republican voters made very clear – when you betray us, when you betray our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, you will NOT go any higher in political office.

Three of the anemic Republicans who voted for this grand betrayal had the gall to run for higher office. State Senator Owen Hill wanted to become a U.S. Congressman, State Representative Polly Lawrence wanted to become Colorado’s State Treasurer, and State Representative Dan Thurlow wanted to graduate to State Senator.

All three lost in their primaries tonight.

Republicans should take note. You mess with our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, you go no higher in elected office (at least as a Republican).

Join our TABOR Yes coalition right now and help politicians remember why we love TABOR!

Think Freedom,

Jon

The big winner tonight is… TABOR!

Jun 26

County considering asking to keep grants from state

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Mesa County commissioners are considering asking voters to allow the county to obtain state grants without bumping up against — or over — revenue limits established under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

The TABOR-sensitive nature of state grants in Mesa County has discouraged the commission in some cases from seeking grants, such as when the commission last year pointedly declined to seek a state grant to pass through $5 million in state funds for expansion of Mind Springs Health’s psychiatric hospital in Grand Junction. Acceptance of the grant could have forced the commission to refund money from the already strapped general fund.

Commissioners are asking for public comment on whether and how to proceed with a ballot question, which they expect to consider in August for the November ballot.

Continue reading →

Jun 18

A tax by any other name …

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A tax by any other name …

  • JAY STOOKSBERRY

Mesa County District Judge Lance Timbreza delivered a solid favor to taxpayers. He recently ruled against the Grand Valley Drainage District stating that the taxing body illegally collected revenue for its stormwater drainage system. The district bypassed restrictions established by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights by calling its rent-seeking activities a “fee” rather than a “tax.”

More importantly, Timbreza’s decision serves as a great precedent to make certain that other governmental entities don’t willfully sidestep the Colorado Constitution. The GVDD case is simply a microcosm of a larger pattern occurring across the state, where various taxing authorities are leveraging the exact same doublespeak as a loophole to generate more revenue without voter approval.

For taxpayers, this was nothing more than a small victory against a Leviathan-sized foe.

Which is why I was surprised by the editorial staff of The Daily Sentinel criticizing the GVDD’s decision not to appeal the judgment. The editorial called it a “bad decision” and suggested that “calling this a victory for property owners… seems premature.”

The editorial suggests that the need for stormwater drainage does not necessarily go away, which is true. The piece continues, “Good luck trying to get the public to buy into a taxing scheme after the county and the chamber fought like hell to call a fee to address the problem of a tax.”

But that’s the whole point! Trust in government is at an all-time low for a reason: Many of these institutions have simply not earned the trust of their tax base. Constantly moving the goal posts only reinforces this mistrust.

Such deceitful tactics used to skirt TABOR have been in circulation for far too long.

Continue reading →

Jun 14

Philbert the Bureaucrat wants to lecture YOU about TABOR

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Join us in Broomfield where Dr. Thomas Krannawitter willl get into character as Philbert C. Dempster, the Senior Assistant Deputy Director of Monitoring and Tracking within the Office of Diversity Management and Opportunity.

The anti-TABOR, consent-hating, government-expanding, nannyist bureaucrat will interview and probably lecture our esteemed panelists of limited government, free market activists. What could go wrong?! It’s bound to be entertaining and educational!

Where:
Broomfield Community Center | Lakeshore Room
2280 Spader Way
Broomfield, CO 80020

When:
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
5:30 – 7:00pm

Special Guests:

Click here to register on evite.com