Some Denver business leaders are pushing a state budget fix that would ensure a boost in transportation funding and could help to increase education spending simply by moving the six-year-old hospital provider fee out of the general fund into what is know as “enterprise fund” status.

However, with the Colorado Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee set to introduce its proposed budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year on Friday, the idea has not gained enough traction yet even to be discussed formally by the committee.

And Democratic and Republican legislative leaders disagree on whether it should be considered, especially since that solution likely would eliminate any Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds to residents statewide in the near future.

However, the same bill says the transfer can be cut in half if TABOR refunds — which are required when state-government revenue grows above a certain cap — are between 1 and 3 percent of the general-fund budget. And they can go away altogether if TABOR refunds exceed 3 percent.

Right now, the TABOR refund is projected to be a little more than 1 percent, which means the $204 million that had been planned for transportation funding would sink to $102 million. Continue reading →

It has been almost 15 years, but hard-working Colorado taxpayers may be in for a TABOR refund in the near future.  The combination of an improving economy and tax receipts from the state’s nascent marijuana industry have created a surplus that must be refunded to Colorodans under the state constitution, unless a ballot measure calling for the funds to be retained and spent by the government is passed in a statewide vote.

Of course, there will be fierce resistance from Democratic lawmakers to refund a penny of the excess tax payments that was dropped into the states’ coffers.  It was not too long ago that the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, Dickey Lee Hullinghorst,staked out her position on the issue, saying that “the people would be far better off if we invested that…” and went on to marginalize the refund by comparing it to “50 bucks to spend on a tank of gas or something.”

In case Speaker Hullinghorst has not been part of the middle class for a while, $50 is a lot of money to someone not making six figures.

Hullinghorst’s wild guesstimate of the figure is most likely wrong.  According to current estimates, the surplus tax collections will amount to somewhere between $70 million and $220 million during the 2015 fiscal year.  This would result in refunds between $15 – $89 per taxpayer, with lower-income people getting more.  There is also a possibility that some low earners will get an additional $230, according to a Denver Post story.

We have to ask – are Democrats really representing the middle and lower earners as they claim?  If they were, would TABOR refunds even be a question?

As an interesting side note, while TABOR is well-known in Colorado, relatively few states have a similar government spending limit mechanism in their constitutions.  The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) actually has a model bill that is based on Colorado’s TABOR amendment that lawmakers in other states can pick up, make minor changes to, and introduce in their own jurisdictions.  We would bet there are constituents in many states who would appreciate a cap on their legislature’s wanton spending.

http://coloradopeakpolitics.com/2015/03/26/return-to-owner-tabor-tax-rebates-may-be-coming-to-a-mailbox-near-you/