Sep 19

Menten: A citizen’s guide to weighing in on local TABOR ballot measures

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One great, though lesser-known benefit provided in the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) is the local ballot issue notice. This guide is sent by mail at least 30-days before the election to all households with one or more registered voters.

The ballot issue notice includes content and details about upcoming local ballot measures that increase taxes, add debt, or suspend TABOR revenue limits. It includes a section where registered voters have the opportunity to submit FOR or AGAINST comments, up to 500 words each.

You should know that there are two types of TABOR ballot issue notices. One notice is for the statewide elections and commonly referred to as the “Blue Book.” The notice discussed here is for elections held by local governments such as a city, town, school district, or special taxing district. You could potentially get more than one of these notices in the mail.

Several years back, it was discovered that out that of some 300 local tax issues throughout the state during a ballot year, only 15 had the taxpayer’s voice printed in a ballot issue notice.  That’s only 5 percent!  You can make a big difference and amplify your voice by being an author of the next ballot issue notice where you live.  Considering that you reach thousands of voters, being able to submit comments in the TABOR notice costs almost nothing and takes relatively little time and energy.

What follows is an explanation of how to participate in the local ballot issue FOR or AGAINST comment process. As in so much of government bureaucracy, instructions must be followed with no room for alteration.  The deadline for this year is Friday, September 23 no later than noon to have your comments included in the local TABOR notice.

To continue reading this story at Complete Colorado, please click (HERE):

Sep 09

SD-20 candidate Lisa Cutter taking credit for TABOR refunds she once tried to eliminate

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SD-20 candidate Lisa Cutter taking credit for TABOR refunds she once tried to eliminate

September 8, 2022 By Sherrie Peif

LAKEWOOD — A Colorado State Senate candidate has added her name to a long list of Democrats trying to take credit for this year’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds, despite a history of trying to eliminate the constitutionally required return of overcollected  tax revenue.

Lisa Cutter, who until this year has represented House District 25 and served as the House Majority Caucus Co-Chair, is featured in a social media ad telling voters she was responsible for the refund checks that recently went out to Coloradans, that are actually the result of TABOR, an amendment to the Colorado Constitution that limits the state from raising taxes or exceeding a revenue limit on a portion of the state budget without first asking voters.  The ad, which links back to Cutter’s campaign website, makes no mention of TABOR, instead claiming she “Delivered Colorado’s biggest tax relief checks ever.” Continue reading →

Sep 09

Measure to boost affordable-housing programs, reduce TABOR refunds on 2022 ballot

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Measure to boost affordable-housing programs, reduce TABOR refunds on 2022 ballot

Nonprofits, real estate groups back initiative to dedicate $300 million annually to state housing programs

BY: CHASE WOODRUFF – SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 5:00 AM

    

A small housing complex in Lyons. (Moe Clark/Colorado Newsline)

Colorado voters will decide this November whether to boost state spending on affordable-housing initiatives by tapping into funds that could otherwise be returned under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Initiative 108, which officially qualified for the 2022 ballot last month, would dedicate an additional $300 million annually to the state’s affordable housing efforts. It would protect the additional revenue by exempting the funds from the annual limits set by TABOR, the 1992 constitutional amendment that places restrictions on Colorado’s taxation and spending levels.

“This measure is desperately needed if we want future generations of Coloradans to thrive,” Brian Rossbert, the executive director of the nonprofit Housing Colorado, part of a coalition supporting the measure, said in a statement.

“Too many Coloradans can no longer afford to live in the neighborhoods where they set down roots,” he said. “That’s forcing families to make difficult relocation decisions, robbing communities of essential services and intensifying our homelessness crisis.”

If approved by voters, Initiative 108 would establish a new State Affordable Housing Fund and exempt it from TABOR limits. Each year, 60% of its funding would support a housing program overseen by the state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade, with the remaining 40% distributed by the Department of Local Affairs.

The measure requires the bulk of the OEDIT funding to be directed towards “equity investments in low- and middle-income multi-family rental developments.” Efforts overseen by DOLA would include grants to assist first-time homebuyers with their down payments and a separate program to provide rental assistance and housing vouchers to people experiencing homelessness.

  • There is nothing ‘affordable’ about taking $300 million of our TABOR tax refunds for a flawed housing measure.  – Advance Colorado’s Michael Fields

A state issue committee in support of Initiative 108, Coloradans for Affordable Housing Now, raised $2.8 million to fund its campaign earlier this year. Its largest donor by far is Denver-based charitable organization Gary Community Ventures, which has contributed $2 million. Other donors include Habitat for Humanity Denver and the National Association of Realtors.

The measure has drawn opposition from Advance Colorado Action, a deep-pocketed, “dark money” nonprofit that has helped fund and coordinate a wide range of conservative causes in recent Colorado elections.

“There is nothing ‘affordable’ about taking $300 million of our TABOR tax refunds for a flawed housing measure,” Advance Colorado’s Michael Fields said in a statement last month. “To fix our state’s housing crisis, we need to build more, not tax more.”

Backers say the measure could help fund the construction of 170,000 new homes in the coming years, offsetting what is projected to be a worsening housing crunch in fast-growing Colorado.

In May, a fiscal impact statement by the nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff noted that the measure’s TABOR impact would vary from year to year depending on revenue levels and how lawmakers choose to distribute refunds.

“If refunds are paid via current law mechanisms, the measure is expected to reduce refunds by approximately $40 per taxpayer, on average, for tax year 2023 and $80 per taxpayer, on average, for tax year 2024,” analysts wrote.

“The measure will increase investments in affordable housing developments, boosting incomes for developers and construction firms,” nonpartisan staff wrote in a separate fiscal summary. “Some households that would otherwise face housing insecurity may find stable housing under the measure, increasing their financial security and opportunities for employment.”

Other measures up for a vote on Colorado’s 2022 ballot include three proposals to change the state’s liquor laws.

https://coloradonewsline.com/2022/09/07/affordable-housing-reduce-tabor-refunds-2022-ballot/

 

 

Sep 09

Colorado Springs Gazette: New ‘affordable housing’ measure misses the mark

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Colorado Springs Gazette: New ‘affordable housing’ measure misses the mark

  • Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board
  •  Updated 
090822-cp-web-oped-csgeditorial-1
Rendering of the future affordable multifamily apartment complex to be located at 8315 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver’s East Colfax neighborhood.

Image courtesy of Van Meter Williams Pollack

While visiting Western Slope resort towns, tourists count on some of Colorado’s most aggrieved workers. Few consider how these employees live.

Recent immigrants, students on summer break and others wait tables, clean hotel rooms, park cars, guide rafting tours, teach ski lessons and provide a large assortment of other services required for tourism.

Visitors typically don’t think about the commutes tourism workers make for jobs in Steamboat Springs, Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Glenwood Springs and other resort towns with exorbitant costs of living.

Sperling’s Best Places finds housing in Aspen costs 707.4% more than the national average. Vail housing costs 397% more than the average; Glenwood Springs, 215.7% more; Steamboat Springs, 257% more; and Telluride 391% more. That’s to be expected in communities that provide second homes for wealthy consumers who fly in and out from around the globe.

As the tourism economy spreads to neighboring towns, workers find themselves commuting farther and farther to find basic shelter. The housing cost in Edwards — 11 miles east of Vail — exceeds the national average by 438.4%.

Low-wage employees in Vail often commute 80 miles round trip, or more, to live in mobile homes in Gypsum and other places far from their jobs. Local affordable housing initiatives have helped a fortunate few but not most.

Colorado needs tourists and the industry needs workers. Yet, economic forces prevent restaurants and hotels from paying the wages required to rent or buy in markets with housing costs beyond the universe of normal. Average tourists simply cannot pay $100 for a cheeseburger or $1,000 a night for a midgrade hotel room.

Given this socioeconomic dilemma, we hoped Initiative 108 might help more Colorado tourism workers live closer to their jobs. Called the Make Colorado Affordable Act, the November ballot measure proposes diverting 0.1% of the general fund into a state affordable housing program.

The state would fund this by dipping into future TABOR refunds, such as the $750 in direct payments each taxpayer received this year by mandate of the Colorado Constitution’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. By 2024, the proposed TABOR retention would generate about $300 million for the fund.

That massive diversion of taxpayer earnings must ease the burdens of tourism workers, or it’s not a good plan. Sadly, it would do no such thing.

To continue reading this editorial, click (HERE) to go to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Aug 19

Mr. TABOR

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SPECIAL TO THE DENVER POST
Anti tax crusader and El Paso County commissioner Douglas Bruce next to his Mr.Tabor licsence plate. 8/19/05 THE DENVER POST/Chuck Bigger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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