TABOR plans for years of taxpayer refunds

By Staff
Saturday, October 3, 2015

Under the 1992 voter-approved constitutional amendment known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, state and local governments are limited on how much they can grow their budgets.

Under the amendment, those year-over-year budget growths are based on a complicated formula subject to population growth and inflation.

Tax revenues that exceed that cap must be refunded to taxpayers, and that’s done depending on just how much revenue has exceeded the limit.

State economists say revenues from last year’s fiscal year, which ended June 30, resulted in a surplus of about $153.6 million. That means taxpayers will see a refund when they file their income tax returns next year, which is expected to average between $15 and $20 for individual filers.

Projections for the next two fiscal years are expected to be even higher: $252.5 million for the current fiscal year, which would be refunded with 2017 tax returns, and $352 million for the year after that.

If the hospital provider fee idea is approved during the next legislative session, which begins in January, it would eliminate the 2017 and 2018 refunds, but not the one planned for next year.

The fee, which is used to fund expanded Medicaid coverage, is collected from hospitals. But because it is counted as revenue for the state, it puts the state in a situation where the TABOR revenue cap is exceeded, triggering a mandatory refund. And that has the effect of cutting into funding for other state services, such as transportation and education.

Source: Colorado Legislative Council

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/tabor-plans-for-years-of-taxpayer-refunds

TABOR rule requires state to refund all of 2014-15 pot money

In November 2012, 55 percent of Colorado voters said they wanted to legalize and tax recreational marijuana when they approved Amendment 64. One year later, 65 percent of Colorado voters approved Proposition AA, a tax plan for recreational marijuana that set up a 15 percent excise tax and a 10 percent sales tax on the newly legal product and directed where those funds would go.

This November, Colorado voters will again be asked about taxing recreational marijuana.

“May the state retain and spend state revenues that otherwise would be refunded for exceeding an estimate included in the ballot information booklet for Proposition AA and use these revenues to provide forty million dollars for public school building construction and for other needs, such as law enforcement, youth programs, and marijuana education and prevention programs, instead of refunding these revenues to retail marijuana cultivation facilities, retail marijuana purchasers, and other taxpayers?”

Under Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), the state must refund new tax revenues if they exceed revenue estimates published at the time of the vote on the new tax, in this case Proposition AA in 2013.

At the time, state economists published an estimate that the new marijuana taxes would generate $67 million in revenue. For the first fiscal year of the new tax, from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, the taxes generated approximately $66.1 million, below the original estimate and in compliance with TABOR.  Continue reading →

Democrats like to lament any tax refunds as a sign the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) is screwing over Colorado. Except,as Sen. Kevin Grantham points out in this morning’s Denver Post, these refunds just remind people why they like TABOR and that it works.

In addition to ensuring that no tax increase can pass without voter approval, TABOR also ensures that the size of state government doesn’t spiral out of control. It includes a formula that calculates population growth plus inflation, so that government keeps pace with growth instead of surpassing it during prosperous years. Refunds are the result of revenues exceeding this cap.  Put another way, TABOR reminds us that we don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.

But even the mention of a potential TABOR refund and the left hits the red panic button, threatening significant budget cuts and fretting about having enough money to spend. It’s the same old knee jerk assumption that everything is underfunded and there is never enough money when that’s not necessarily true.

The truth is that governing is about making hard choices and setting priorities. The current budget is $25 billion and was passed with bipartisan support, so we know it can be done.

Yes, there may be challenges ahead. But instead of trying to dismantle a popular taxpayer protection at every turn, Democrats should try some optimism for a change and work with the revenue they are generously given by the people of this state.

http://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2015/09/22/tabor-in-action-refunds-means-its-working/