Category Archives: TABOR Refunds

Sep 18

OPPOSITION STATEMENT TO 2024 RTD TAX MEASURE

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OPPOSITION STATEMENT TO 2024 RTD TAX MEASURE

Even the strongest supporter of mass transit must rethink this tax.  It’s not a good idea nor is it the right time.  Vote NO on the measure.

–      Ridership is way down.  It dropped to only 65.2 million “boardings” in 2023, when it had been 103.2 million boardings in 2019.  That’s a huge drop.  RTD wants this for ongoing operations, but that level of spending no longer matches the ridership.

  • Management has not kept riders safe. Many people avoid using buses and light rail due to the dirty needles, assaults, open drug use, filth and crime.
  • Management does not operate intelligently. How many times have long stretches of the rail system been shut down?  Poor maintenance has left some rail routes going no faster than 10 miles per hour, keeping commuters from getting to work on time.  Bus routes suffer reliability issues.

Lifting the TABOR budget limits would be a FOREVER tax.  No sunset date.  No revisiting it later.

Having no limit on budgets paid off construction debt of $779 million over the past 25 years.  The project was built and paid off.  The old tax scheme has ended.  This extension is a tax increase by keeping what otherwise would be returned to you.  If it were not a Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requirement to vote on renewed taxes, it would not have to go to the ballot.  When politicians mislead you to get your vote, it should be a red flag.

There is no plan to use this renewed tax plan for new bonds, and the revenue would just get dumped into the general fund.  Vote down this tax extension and give RTD the opportunity to come back with specific ideas and costs, instead of a blank check for who-knows-what.

The state legislature has been seriously considering  removal of an elected Board of Directors.  We don’t even know who will be controlling the tax increase in a few years!

RTD charges you sales tax on a vast majority of goods, taking money out of your pocket when you buy toilet paper, school supplies, clothing, and groceries. It adds up, the average taxpayer gives up a few hundred dollars to RTD each year in sales tax. Have you gotten your money’s worth?

The system needs to be fixed first.  Taxpayers should demand some accountability.  RTD must first use current dollars to reverse ridership decline and move to a transit system that is not inefficient, inconvenient and even dangerous.  Giving RTD this money does not necessarily mean that light rail will go faster than 10 miles an hour or clean up the stations, buses and trains.  Just having a bigger budget does not guarantee reforms.  Don’t throw good money after bad.

Vote NO and keep your RTD TABOR refund.

 

Aug 31

Colorado’s fee-based enterprises skirt TABOR, increase revenue by 3,000%

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Colorado’s fee-based enterprises skirt TABOR, increase revenue by 3,000%

State-owned enterprises increase fees from 46% of total state spending in 1996 to 71% in 2023

In 1992 voters enacted the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to constrain the growth of government by requiring voter approval for tax increases. Since then, the state government has built a new structure to avoid that requirement.

The creation of TABOR-exempt state-owned “enterprises” has allowed government to increase fees from 46% of total state spending in 1996 to 71% of state spending in 2023 without requiring approval from taxpayers, according to a new report released by the Common Sense Institute, a non-partisan research organization “dedicated to the protection and promotion of Colorado’s economy.”

“Fees are a rapidly growing and significant cost for Coloradans,” said Kelly Caufield, Executive Director of the Common Sense Institute. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if we call it a tax or a fee, these costs are driving the cost of living in our state.”

Continue reading →

Aug 10

Study finds special interest tax deals eating up Coloradans’ TABOR refunds

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Study finds special interest tax deals eating up Coloradans’ TABOR refunds

August 9, 2024 By Savana Kascak

 

DENVER–Governor Jared Polis has consistently said he wants to lower the Colorado income tax, even claiming that legislation passed earlier this year would deliver on that promise.  But new research shows that billions of dollars in special interest tax breaks also passed this year in all likelihood means broad-based income tax relief is off the table for the foreseeable future.

Earlier this year, Governor Polis signed Senate Bill 24-228, temporarily lowering the state income tax rate, on a sliding scale, as a refund mechanism when surplus revenue under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) is more than $300 million in a given fiscal year, with the maximum rate reduction (from 4.40% to 4.25%) kicking in at a $1.5 billion surplus.

TABOR is a constitutional amendment that requires, among other things, state revenues collected in excess of of a formula of population growth plus inflation be refunded back to taxpayers, unless voters consent to forgo those refunds at the ballot box.  An income tax rate reduction is but one potential refund mechanism available to the state. 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.

Jul 25

HB1311.  New law plunders TABOR refunds.

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HB1311.  New law plunders TABOR refunds.

During the legislative session just ended, legislators passed and the governor signed a new law that establishes a new income redistribution program.
Your expected TABOR rebate from the state government over-collecting taxes was reduced and got cut nearly in half.

The new law is known as House Bill 1311, which sponsors call the Family Affordability Tax Credit (FATC).

The measure diverts $684 million in the first year, using planned TABOR refunds to give subsidies to low-income families with children.
There are formulas for how households will be treated differently, depending on the age of the child and the amount of income earned by the parent.

How did the General Assembly get away with a costly new program that you did not get to vote on?
After all, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requires that voters must approve the retention of taxes above the TABOR limits.
Proponents claim the scheme is a method to return the surplus.

The act creates a new refundable tax credit.  Refundable means that the State will rebate to the welfare recipient money above any taxes that person owes.

This is a clear violation, as TABOR is to rebate over-collected taxes to those who paid and should be proportional when identifiable.

Income taxes are clearly identifiable.
There is no reasonable explanation that the State cannot identify who paid how much income tax and how much of a TABOR rebate that taxpayer should get.

The new law, HB1311 says:

  • Eligible people are “residents.”
  • They 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!

The TABOR Committee explored how to overturn HB1311 on this fall’s ballot.
Is there enough interest and funding to reverse the new law?
Action must be taken immediately and the effort is costly.

Arguments against the HB1311 program:

  • Note that HB 1311 is in addition to the “Earned” Income Tax Credit bill and the Child Care Tax Credit, which also reduce our general TABOR rebates.
  • While subsidizing families is arguably a government goal, it is done properly through welfare programs.  In Colorado with TABOR in place, that would mean funding the program under the TABOR spending limits.  It would require prioritizing the welfare subsidies within the budget imposed by the citizens.  Instead, this bill establishes a new welfare program completely reliant on state TABOR surpluses.
  • TABOR was never meant to become an instrument to redistribute income.  The concept was that tax rates would be adjusted downward to eliminate any permanent over-collections.

If this program is so important to proponents, then why restrict it to TABOR refund years?

Legislators are ignoring a very important message by citizens in the landslide negative 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.

A philosophic core of the Progressives, who control the current Colorado General Assembly, is the leveling of income.
This bill, HB1311, is a mechanism to redistribute income through the TABOR tax rebates.

We need to overturn this horrendous bill at the ballot box.

Will you join us in trying to do so and restore your TABOR surplus refunds?

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

Jul 15

Jefferson County’s commissioners seek elimination of TABOR refunds — again

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Boxes of ballots await tabulation in Jefferson County from the Primary Election in June.

Deborah Grigsby/Denver Gazette

 

For the third time in five years, Jefferson County’s elected officials are asking voters to allow the local government to spend all of the revenue that it collects above the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights limit, thereby eliminating refunds to taxpayers.

For fiscal year 2024, that refund amount is estimated to be $54.4 million.

Last year, the county refunded $39.4 million to roughly 210,000 property taxpayers.

The county’s voters rejected the idea twice — in 2019 and 2022 — but the county’s commissioners this month insisted that, after “engaging” with the public through “both qualitative and quantitative research,” voters need to decide the question again.

“It is the spirit of TABOR to bring questions like this to the voters and let them decide,” Commissioner Andy Kerr said in a statement. “TABOR demands that community members engage with their government to address challenges like this.”

“I have great pride in Jefferson County, but we’re falling behind in essential county services, and that’s where we come in as county fiscal stewards,” Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper said during the meeting that sent the measure to the November ballot.

Under TABOR, local voters may allow their respective government to “debruce” — that is, permit a county, municipality or school district to eliminate the TABOR spending limit, and then to retain and spend all of the revenue it has collected.

Jefferson County is among a few counties that have not “debruced.” A majority of Colorado’s 64 counties have done so.

Last week, commissioners Kerr, Dahlkemper and Tracy Kraft-Tharp voted to place the debrucing question on the ballot. Continue reading →

Jun 25

TABOR Committee Press Statement About RTD Ballot Question

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June 25, 2024

 

 

                                                                                                                                Contact: Penn Pfiffner
Phone: 303-233-7731
Email: constecon@hotmail.com

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is proposing a 2024 ballot measure to permanently eliminate TABOR spending and revenue caps. The RTD has retained hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer’s TABOR rebates over recent years. Yet, the RTD Board wants to claim this proposed ballot measure isn’t a tax increase.

The TABOR Committee opposes the RTD ballot measure to permanently eliminate taxpayer’s protections.

  1. The ballot language doesn’t legally comply with TABOR by clearly expressing the amount of the tax increase. The district has retained millions of TABOR rebates, the proposed measure is a tax increase.
  2. TABOR limits waivers to four years, allowing for voter review. The RTD ballot measure permanently eliminates taxpayer protections. It’s a forever tax increase with a blank check.

 

TABOR Committee, board chairman Penn Pfiffner stated: “The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is one of the largest tax collectors in Colorado. RTD wants to use misleading ballot language to eliminate TABOR rebates. This is clearly a tax increase and a blank check to a government district that has failed to deliver on FasTracks campaign promises. Taxpayers would be best served getting their TABOR rebates starting in 2025 to use on a transportation method that fits their lives.”

 

The TABOR Committee was formed in 2009 to protect the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).
DefendTABOR.com

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Jun 13

Voters will likely be asked to permanently spare RTD from TABOR limits

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Voters will likely be asked to permanently spare RTD from TABOR limits

By Nathaniel Minor

  • Jun. 12, 2024, 5:16 pm

 

 

 

 

Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteAn RTD train slowly approaches the Belleview Avenue station in south Denver. June 6, 2024.

The Regional Transportation District will likely add a question to the November 2024 ballot asking voters to permanently allow it to keep revenue that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

An RTD board committee unanimously endorsed the “debrucing” ballot question on Tuesday, a reference to TABOR’s author Douglas Bruce.

RTD’s full board will vote in late June on whether to send the question to voters. The agency currently has two different exemptions from TABOR for different parts of its budget; one expires later this year, the other in 2050. The ballot measure would ask voters to spare RTD’s entire budget from TABOR limits permanently.

Board chair Erik Davidson said if the soon-to-expire exemption were to lapse, RTD might have to refund tens of millions of dollars a year to taxpayers.

He also cited recent polling commissioned by RTD that showed nearly 70 percent support for the ballot measure among respondents.

“To me, it’s an easy answer to say that we proceed,” Davidson told the committee on Tuesday.

Most voters know TABOR as the reason Coloradans vote on taxes. But it does a lot more than that.

The lengthy constitutional amendment voters passed in 1992 also puts restrictions on how much revenue every government in Colorado can collect every year. Any excess revenue beyond a limit set by formulas within TABOR must be refunded to voters. TABOR also contains a “ratchet effect” that can lead to tighter limits and bigger refunds after a recession. Continue reading →

May 30

NTUF Defends Unanimous Win Protecting Taxpayers from Doubled Property Taxes

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NTUF Defends Unanimous Win Protecting Taxpayers from Doubled Property Taxes

by Tyler Martinez  May 29, 2024

Our Taxpayer Defense Center continues to fight for residents in Northern Colorado. Back in March, in a major victory for taxpayers, a unanimous panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals agreed with us that a doubling of the property taxes in a few Northern Colorado counties violated the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).  But the case continues, because the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District has now sought review from the Colorado Supreme Court. We recently filed our Brief In Opposition.

The case, Aranci v. Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District, involves residents challenging a tax increase by the Water District, arguing it violates Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). The controversy arose when the Water District doubled its mill levy in 2019 without seeking voter approval. The residents filed a class action lawsuit, asserting that this increase violated TABOR, which requires prior voter approval for any tax rate increases, and seeking a refund for what was illegally collected.

The District Court initially ruled in favor of the Water District, finding no violation of TABOR under a narrow exception articulated in Huber v. Colorado Mining Association, which was about a ministerial tax adjustment based on inflation. However, upon appeal, the Court of Appeals unanimously reversed, declaring the mill levy increase was not ministerial and holding for the residents on five independent grounds.  Continue reading →