Category Archives: Quote

Apr 02

10th Circuit dismisses lawsuit challenging validity of TABOR

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We just wanted to remind you that the premise of this case was settled in December, 2021 but the political party on the left doesn’t learn. Here’s the headline and story:

10th Circuit dismisses lawsuit challenging validity of TABOR

FILE PHOTO: The Byron R. White U.S. Courthouse in Denver, which houses the Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

MICHAEL KARLIK/COLORADO POLITICS

The federal appeals court based in Denver has dismissed the long-running lawsuit seeking to void Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, finding in a 7-2 decision that a collection of local governments has no basis to challenge the 1992 constitutional amendment.

Chief Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich, writing for himself and six of his colleagues, concluded that the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners, a handful of school districts and one special district failed to show that the 1875 Enabling Act that guaranteed to Colorado a “republican” form of government had also given the local government entities the ability to challenge TABOR’s taxing and spending restrictions.

“Looking at the Enabling Act’s language, we conclude the plaintiffs cannot state a claim under the Act’s promise of a republican constitution. Neither the Enabling Act’s text nor structure supports the political subdivisions’ arguments. The clause promising a constitution republican in form has no clear beneficiary,” Tymkovich wrote in the Dec. 13 decision.

The ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit represents a blow to opponents of TABOR, who argue that it has starved governments of revenue and made crucial funding obligations, such as education and transportation, more difficult through the imposition of tax increases only at the permission of voters.

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Mar 29

Ballooning Medicaid costs, TABOR limits expose flaws in Colorado’s big government spending spree

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Ballooning Medicaid costs, TABOR limits expose flaws in Colorado’s big government spending spree

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board / March 28, 2025 /

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board

After years of overreach and unchecked government growth, Colorado lawmakers are now scrambling to plug a $1.2 billion hole in the state budget — a crisis largely of their own making.

Colorado budget writers voted Wednesday night to finalize a 2025–26 budget plan that slashes transportation funding, eliminates programs, and kicks key decisions down the road — all while Medicaid spending surges out of control.

Despite the so-called “cuts,” the budget still grows to over $16 billion. But massive increases in Medicaid — particularly long-term care for seniors and the disabled — are eating up the budget at an unsustainable pace. Democrat lawmakers admit the problem is only getting worse. “Next year, I see our fiscal challenges compounding,” said Rep. Shannon Bird, vice chair of the Joint Budget Committee (JBC), during a hearing.

Conservatives argue this crisis is a direct result of failed progressive governance: endless new programs, expensive mandates, and refusal to address structural overspending.

TABOR Targeted Again

Once again, the state’s taxpayer protections — the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) — are being blamed by Democrats for the budget woes. TABOR limits government growth to population plus inflation, requiring refunds to citizens when revenue exceeds the cap.

Instead of thanking taxpayers for Colorado’s booming economy, JBC Chair Sen. Jeff Bridges (D-Greenwood Village) criticized TABOR: “When the economy is booming and the state is tightening its belt, that just doesn’t make sense,” he told The Colorado Sun. “It’s like, ‘why are you making these cuts?’ And the answer is TABOR.”

But to fiscal conservatives, it makes perfect sense. TABOR keeps the government from ballooning during economic highs and forces legislators to prioritize. That’s not dysfunction — it’s accountability.

Click (HERE) to read the rest of this editorial.

Feb 20

TABOR = TAxpayer’s Bill Of Rights

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70%+ of Coloradans support TABOR.

What TABOR stands for:

 

 

 

 

 

What one political party in Colorado is trying to wrongfully change it to, according to our TABOR friend, Representative Ryan Gonzalez:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Representative Ryan Gonzalez (@RyanGonzalezCO) / X

 

 

Jan 28

Coloradans must opt in for TABOR refunds when filing taxes

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DENVER (KDVR) — Monday marked the first day the IRS could start accepting and processing your tax return.

Colorado filers need to keep an eye out for one key step to make sure they get all the money they are eligible for back in their wallets.

Coloradans are set to get TABOR refunds after they file their taxes this year, but the state is reminding residents that they have to opt in.

The Colorado Department of Revenue is hoping to help taxpayers make sure they get as much money back as they can when they file their taxes this year.

“Unfortunately, if you didn’t check that box for your taxes you filed in 2024 for tax year 2023, you did miss out on your tabor refund,” said Elisabeth Kosar, communications director for the Colorado Department of Revenue. “TABOR is something you need to opt into so please, please check that box or again have whoever is preparing your taxes check that box.” Continue reading →

Nov 10

More Evidence for the TABOR Spending Cap

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November 9, 2024 by Dan Mitchell

Last April, I shared some data showing that Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights had forced politicians in the Centennial State to return $8.2 billion of tax revenue.

The state’s politicians did not want to return the money. But TABOR is a spending cap and the rules require that any extra tax revenue (above and beyond what would finance allowed levels of spending) has to be returned to taxpayers.

This spending cap has been good news for the state’s economy, as illustrated by the chart.

But I now need to update the benefits of TABOR.

That’s because we have another year of data. And, as explained in this report from Center Square, taxpayers are getting another refund. This time, their savings will be more than $1 billion. Continue reading →

Aug 07

TABOR Media Statement About HD24-1311

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MEDIA RELEASE

Contact:

            Penn Pfiffner

TABOR Committee Chairman

303-233-7731 or 303-747-7460

constecon@hotmail.com

 or info@TheTaborCommittee.com

August 8, 2024

Today the TABOR Committee relinquished hope that people would be able to vote on saving their TABOR refunds.  “There were simply not enough time and resources to collect the signatures in time for a citizen’s veto,” said Committee Director Rebecca Sopkin, who filed the ballot measure to repeal the 2024 law.

A new law establishes a new income redistribution program using about half of everyone’s TABOR refund.

TABOR was never meant to be an instrument to redistribute income.  Tax rates were to be adjusted downward to eliminate any permanent over-collections.  Refunds are legally a return of state sales taxes.    “The constitution specifically calls for returning over-collected taxes to those who pay the taxes.  You can’t tell me that someone making $15,000 a year bought $110,000 of taxable goods,” observed Committee chairman Penn Pfiffner.  The State does not impose sales taxes on purchase of housing, food or medicine.

 

The Committee explained that the income redistribution only happens if there is a TABOR refund and so why, if this program is so important to proponents, did legislators fail to place it under the general fund budget?

 

The measure, HD24-1311, diverts $684 million in the first year, using planned TABOR refunds to impose again the federal COVID program of subsidies to low-income families with children, but using new taxpayer funds at the state level.

The program will send money to recipients even beyond the taxes that the person pays.  Eligible people do not have to be taxpayers.  They do not have to be citizens!  They do not even have to reside in the state all year!

Legislators are ignoring a very important message by citizens in the landslide vote last fall against Proposition HH.  With a roar, they told the government to leave the TABOR rebates alone so that taxes over-collected by the state would be returned to the taxpayers.

Jun 20

Coloradans can expect another TABOR windfall. How much depends on voters in November

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Coloradans can expect another TABOR windfall. How much depends on voters in November

Story by Nick Coltrain, The Denver Post • 5h ago

Gov. Jared Polis signed SB23-303, Reduce Property Taxes and Voter-approved Revenue Change and SB23-304, Property Tax Valuation in front of the home of Joe Lloyd Medina, 78, in Commerce City on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Gov. Jared Polis signed SB23-303, Reduce Property Taxes and Voter-approved Revenue Change and SB23-304, Property Tax Valuation in front of the home of Joe Lloyd Medina, 78, in Commerce City on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.© Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post/TNS

Colorado economic forecasters predict another tax refund windfall next spring — though how Coloradans receive the excess collections depends on how they vote this November.

Forecasters for both the legislative and executive branches expect tax collections subject to Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, caps to exceed $3.3 billion. That would be near the prior year’s record that lawmakers refunded through direct checks last fall. Following year forecasts still show excess collections, though not nearly as eye-popping.

The excess collections will surely become a point of leverage in a looming ballot box battle over state tax policy. Voters will decide this November on Proposition HH, a multi-faceted proposal aimed to blunt the sharpest edges of rising property taxes while also allowing the state to keep more tax dollars than currently allowed under TABOR.

Opponents are arguing its passage would lead to a long-term vacuuming of tax dollars that would otherwise be returned to taxpayers. Supporters, including Gov. Jared Polis and many lawmakers, argue the measure is necessary to backfill local governments and services whole while saving property owners hundreds of dollars a year in higher taxes driven by skyrocketing property values.

As an additional carrot, lawmakers attached a one-year, flat TABOR refund to the proposal passing. Economic forecasters with the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting predict individual taxpayers would receive $873 per filer — if HH passes. Forecasters for the legislative branch, who estimate a slightly lower breach of the TABOR cap, predict it would be about $854.

If Proposition HH doesn’t pass, the state would revert to the six-tier refund mechanism that gives lower-income taxpayers lower refund amounts, and higher-income taxpayers higher refunds, under the philosophy that higher-income taxpayers paid more into the overcollected taxes.

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May 01

Twitter Post By Roger D. Hudson About TABOR, Gov. Polis, & Colorado’s Property Tax Problem

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Roger D. Hudson @RogerHudsonCO
Polis unveiled his plan to fix Colorado’s #PropertyTax problem — it asks voters to use TABOR refunds. “While we at the Capitol were making new laws that were too expensive, real Coloradans have been opening up their mail —finding tax bills they can’t pay. bit.ly/3B2zDSd