Category Archives: Proposition 117

Apr 27

Majority Democrats move to slam door on Colorado citizen engagement

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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.

What makes this particularly alarming is the inclusion of the “safety clause” — legislative language that declares the bill is necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, or safety. The practical effect? Voters are prohibited from filing a referendum to challenge the law at the ballot box. It’s an ironic — and telling — twist that a bill restricting petition rights also blocks any citizen-led challenge of its own passage.

This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a matter of democratic access. Historically, both liberal and conservative groups in Colorado have used the initiative process to bring policy directly to the people — from campaign finance limits and term limits to marijuana legalization and tax policy reforms.

At the same time, House Joint Resolution 25-1023 is awaiting debate on the House floor. That measure would authorize the legislature to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR— a voter-approved amendment that requires voter consent before most tax increases. If passed, it would use taxpayer money to fund litigation aimed at overturning the will of the voters.

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

Apr 14

If you’re reading this, pause and send a letter to your CO Rep/Senator in opposition to HJR25-1023

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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

Apr 07

ICYMI Over The Past 31 Years, This Has Been Part Of Their Colorado Democrats Party Platform

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#HandsOffTABOR
#DontBeFooled
#ItsYourMoneyNotTheirs
#TABOR
#FollowTheLaw
#FeesAreTaxes
#VoteOnFees
#ReplaceThemAllForNotFollowingVotersWishes

Nov 25

Perspective: Taxes — by another name

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Perspective: Taxes — by another name

  • By Lang Sias

Since 2018, Colorado taxpayers have benefited from two reductions to the state income tax that together have brought the rate from 4.63% to 4.4%, for an aggregate reduction of 0.23%. These reductions have been much heralded by state government leaders and have elicited approving comments from a wide range of observers.

The applause for these tax cuts, however, has obscured a separate tactic that state leaders increasingly have used to extract revenue from Coloradans in amounts that dwarf the income tax reductions. During the last two decades, Coloradans have seen a steady increase in the fees paid to a wide range of state enterprises. The pattern has accelerated dramatically since 2018.

According to a recent Common Sense Institute study, fee-based revenue to enterprises has increased since 2018 by an amount equivalent to a 0.51% increase in the state income tax — so, more than double the recent tax cuts. If Colorado’s fee enterprises, minus higher education, were instead funded by the state income tax, the state income tax would increase to 7.68%, a 75% increase over the current rate of 4.4%.

Continue reading →

Jul 30

EDITORIAL: Salute our state’s constitution this Colorado Day

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EDITORIAL: Salute our state’s constitution this Colorado Day

  • The Gazette editorial board

On Thursday, the state of Colorado turns 148 — and Coloradans no doubt can think of many good reasons to celebrate.

Among them of course are the Centennial State’s unmatched natural wonders. There’s also the state’s exquisite climate; its vast, wide-open spaces, and its abundant resources — from oil and gas underground to the wind and sunshine all around — that heat our homes, power our automobiles and light the way.

One blessing that’s more directly connected to the advent of Colorado’s statehood itself is our founding charter — our state’s constitution — which shares the same birthday. Drafted in March of 1876 and approved by territorial voters on July 1 of the same year, the Colorado Constitution formally took effect Aug. 1, 1876, when Colorado was admitted to the union.

There’s good reason to celebrate the state’s constitution, as well, on Colorado Day.

Like any constitution, ours isn’t without foibles. At times it has left itself wide open to interpretation, and activist courts have been happy to oblige. Yet, on the balance, Colorado’s constitution has served its citizens pretty well — including by way of some well-timed and well-placed amendments to the document over the generations. Continue reading →

Jun 20

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

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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 →

Nov 01

With TABOR, Make Your Case And Convince Your Fellow Coloradans

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#DontBeFooled
#ItsYourMoneyNotTheirs
#VoteOnTaxesAndFees
#FeesAreTaxes
#TABOR
#ThankGodForTABOR
#FollowTheMoney
#FollowTheLaw

May 06

Democrats’ top legislative priority: re-election

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Democrats’ top legislative priority: re-election

    • By Mark Hillman

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Mark Hillman

God saw fit to stop at 10 commandments, but politicians can’t leave well enough alone, so a series of “Eleventh Commandments” apply to them. One of those admonishes: Thou shall not make the voters more cynical.

This year, Democrats at our State Capitol are breaking that commandment, too.

So, let’s take a little walk down memory lane and remember this journey through Election Day.

Last week, Gov. Jared Polis and legislative Democrats tossed aside 30 years of fierce opposition to Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) which they’ve blamed for everything from crumbling roads to failing schools. Instead, they held a press conference to tout “their” plan to send every taxpayer a $400 check barely one month before voters receive their general election ballots.

There’s just one problem: that money already belongs to taxpayers.

Continue reading →

Apr 09

Conservatives file lawsuit to invalidate Colorado’s new transportation fees. Here’s what it claims.

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Senate Bill 260, passed by Democrats in 2021, enacted new fees on gasoline purchases, deliveries and Uber and Lyft rides to raise billions for transportation projects

7:23 AM MDT on Apr 8, 2022

Traffic flows along Interstate 70 west of Floyd Hill in Clear Creek County on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022. (Andy Colwell, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Colorado’s new transportation fees violate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and several other state finance laws and should be invalidated, two conservative groups and Republican state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg claim in a long-promised lawsuit filed late Thursday in Denver.

Senate Bill 260, passed by Democrats in the legislature last year, enacted a host of new transportation fees — including on gasoline purchases, deliveries and Uber and Lyft rides — to raise money for road and transit projects across the state.

To continue reading this story from the Colorado Sun, please click (HERE):
Sep 28

EDITORIAL: $4 billion in returns will fuel the economy

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Tails should not wag dogs. It defies physics, not to mention the will of the dog. Tails should wag dogs no more than politicians should decide the size and scope of a government established by the governed to serve the governed. A roaring economy should never increase the size and scope of government unless the people demand it.

The residents of Colorado have made clear they don’t want more government. They believe the state has all the money it needs. They reiterated this conviction just two years ago when they trounced Proposition CC, a proposal to let the state keep revenues above a floating state spending cap determined by an equation of inflation and population growth.

Just last year, voters went a step further and lowered the Property tax from 4.63% to 4.55%, and probably would have voted for a lower rate had they been given the option.

One reason this center-left blue state wants to throttle back government spending is the general discontent the public has with the way politicians treat their money.

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