Jul 30

Affordable housing program will cut into your TABOR refunds

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Affordable housing program will cut into your TABOR refunds

By Natalie Menten

Guest Commentary

The state government has taken more taxes from you than we allow it to have, and it should rebate that over-collection back to you. That money coming back to all taxpayers is now in jeopardy. We should be alarmed at the potential waste.

Colorado voters’ dissatisfaction with government growing beyond its means led to the passage of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). This constitutional amendment requires voter approval for tax increases and debt. It also limits how fast government can grow. The formula for automatic tax increases is the prior year’s budget plus adjustment for inflation and population growth.

When government collects taxes above the limit, it must refund the surplus. Later this year, each taxpayer will get a $750 TABOR rebate from the state. The economic outlook predicts rebates for the next several years.

Two statewide ballot measures in November claim they don’t raise taxes, but that’s just not true. Funding for new programs comes from our future TABOR rebates. If we don’t get all those rebates back, that’s effectively a higher tax rate and clearly a tax hike.

One measure proposes to divert TABOR rebates to subsidize affordable housing programs. Proponents have spent hefty money on paid signature gathering. They are meeting with local elected officials and lobbying for political buy-in. They gloat that they had raised $5 million by June 1 and that they plan to spend millions more to sway Colorado voters. How much of the campaign donations will come from developers who specialize in subsidized projects?

Our TABOR rebates would be diverted into a new “Affordable Housing Fund,” to be split 60/40 between state and local governments. The requirements to release the funds come with damaging, top-down controls. Local elected officials would have to guarantee increasing affordable housing by 3% each year over a baseline number, as well as implementing a 90-day fast-track permit approval process.

If a local jurisdiction won’t or can’t comply with the measure’s requirements, not only would we taxpayers not receive our TABOR rebates, but the local government would be disqualified from the subsidy.

How would dense metro areas increase subsidized housing units year after year? Would they build out, build up or replace?

At what point might local governments discourage and make it more difficult to build singlefamily homes? Examples abound, including Minneapolis, Oregon and California banning single-family developments. It seems far-fetched that Colorado would enact these restrictive policies, but that’s what we have to anticipate with passage of this ballot measure.

This measure encourages government to compete against Ma and Pa to buy property. Who has deeper pockets?

Seniors whose retirement depends on rental income might well be affected because this proposal creates an eviction defense fund, which would pay attorneys with taxpayer money to prevent landlords from evicting non-paying tenants who are at risk of becoming homeless.

There’s a long list of problems in this extreme initiative (currently No. 108). The paid circulators I’ve encountered know little to nothing about the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, so they aren’t informing signers that the money comes from our upcoming TABOR tax rebates.

Since backers are apparently willing to spend many, many millions of dollars to pump out TV ads and fill our mailboxes with slick marketing pieces, I don’t know where our opposition campaign will find similar amounts of money to counter the propaganda.

Citizens who sign the petition likely aren’t aware of the devious, negative results. Hopefully by the time the election rolls around in November, voters will understand this ballot issue’s dangers and vote no.

 

Jul 30

Coloradans can thank TABOR for their tax rebate

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Like a lottery jackpot, Colorado’s state revenue surplus keeps growing. And so do the rebates that will be returned to the state’s taxpayers in the next few months. The latest news, reported Wednesday in The Gazette, is taxpayers can expect to receive at least $750 in the mail — up from the previous $500 estimate.

It’s welcome news, of course, especially as the nation’s economy goes sideways amid spiraling inflation. The $750 checks that will go out to individual tax filers — $1,500 for couples filing jointly — will be a boon to many Coloradans who are finding it ever harder to make ends meet. Some 3.1 million Coloradans will receive a refund directly in the mail in August or September.

“We are providing real relief when Coloradans need it most,” Gov. Jared Polis said of the refunds this week. “Everyone in our state is feeling the impact of rising costs, and I refuse to let the government sit on taxpayers’ money when it could be used to make life a little bit easier for the people of our state.”

Wow, thanks, guv! Our Democratic chief exec from Boulder could have delivered that line at the next Republican National Convention and felt right at home. Continue reading →

Jul 22

Affordable housing program will cut into your TABOR refunds

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Affordable housing program will cut into your TABOR refunds

By Natalie Menten

Guest Commentary

The state government has taken more taxes from you than we allow it to have, and it should rebate that over-collection back to you. That money coming back to all taxpayers is now in jeopardy. We should be alarmed at the potential waste.

Colorado voters’ dissatisfaction with government growing beyond its means led to the passage of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). This constitutional amendment requires voter approval for tax increases and debt. It also limits how fast government can grow. The formula for automatic tax increases is the prior year’s budget plus adjustment for inflation and population growth.

When government collects taxes above the limit, it must refund the surplus. Later this year, each taxpayer will get a $750 TABOR rebate from the state. The economic outlook predicts rebates for the next several years.

Two statewide ballot measures in November claim they don’t raise taxes, but that’s just not true. Funding for new programs comes from our future TABOR rebates. If we don’t get all those rebates back, that’s effectively a higher tax rate and clearly a tax hike.

Click the link below to continue reading this article at the Denver Post.

 

Opinion: Statewide affordable housing program will cut into your TABOR refunds

Jul 22

Menten: Jeffco commissioners want voters to hand them a blank check

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Jefferson County is one of more than a dozen counties in Colorado that still enjoys the protections of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). This constitutional amendment requires voter approval for tax increases and debt.  It also modestly limits how fast government can grow. The formula for automatic tax increases is the prior year’s budget plus adjustment for inflation and local growth.

Jefferson County government is presently allowed to grow 3.9% annually under the formula as described in a Board of County Commissioners agenda for July 19 (page 171).  That’s a reasonable amount for government growth – compare it to your household. Have you gotten nearly a 4% increase in your income?

Yet, the county commissioners have spent the last few years claiming they have insufficient revenue to maintain operations. Now they blame the revenue problem on the pandemic, yet the county received close to a couple hundred million in COVID relief money.

That pile of federal money still didn’t calm down the county commissioners’ quest to get rid of our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

To continue reading the rest of this story, please click (HERE) to go to Complete Colorado

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

Jul 04

The Empire of Fees. How charges and fines drive government growth

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When I wake up in the morning at my home in Austin, Texas, I turn on the lights, and thereby provide a few cents to the city government’s electric company. I flush the toilet, owing a few more to Austin’s sewer service. When I pour myself a glass of water, the city water department gets a piece. After I get dressed and step outside, I watch the city take my trash, my recycling, and my compost—each pickup costs a few dollars. Sometimes, I discover a $25 ticket for parking my car in the wrong spot. Then I swallow my anger and drive down the MoPac highway, where I pay a toll to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. I park in a garage downtown owned by the Austin Transportation Department, pay them a few bucks, and walk to my office. If I need to take a trip out of town, I pay $1.25 for a Capital Metro District bus to the city-owned Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, where, along with the price of my plane ticket, I pay a $5.60 fee for the benefit of being patted down by a TSA agent, a Passenger Facility Charge, and a small part in any rents the city charges restaurants and retailers. Only when I’m in the air does the drain to the government stop.

In one typical morning, I handed over money to several government bodies. But I didn’t pay any taxes—only fees, charges, and fines. These are the future of government in the United States.

The idea that government operates just by taxing and spending money is anachronistic. A growing share of its revenue comes from charges that the government imposes in exchange for its services or as a penalty for breaking its rules. In 1950, about 1 percent of Americans’ income went to charges from state and local governments. Today, that number is 4 percent. Include federal fees and charges, themselves the fastest-growing part of federal revenue, and that number rises to over 5.5 percent. Though largely hidden from the public, fees and charges account for most of the growth in government over the past 70 years and have become the top source of revenue for state and local governments.

Two factors drive this new reliance on special charges. First, governments are expanding the “businesses” they run—hospitals, universities, airports—and forcing users to pay more for them.

To continue reading this story, please click (HERE) to go to The City Journal.

May 18

Progressives want more from Colorado residential property taxes

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Progressives want more from Colorado residential property taxes

By Brad Hughes

Some Colorado progressives are intrigued by a Bell Policy Center idea to increase property taxes on the wealthy to pay for subsidized housing for the poor. Colorado progressives frustrated that they could not eliminate TABOR, have been targeting property taxes as a source to expand government. The repeal of the Gallagher amendment was a big victory for them in pursuing increased residential property taxation. One of their proposals was to target residential real estate that exceeded $2 million in value. One proposal was to assess an additional 0.57% tax on homes valued at over $2 million. Another proposal was to establish a fee that was 1.1% on houses valued at over $2 million. Fortunately, both initiatives died. This doesn’t mean the idea is dead. It will be back for next year’s session.

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was quoted on Twitter as making a comparison between her proposed wealth tax and the traditional property tax. Addressing a crowd, she said: “You’ve been paying a wealth tax for years. They just call it a property tax. I just want their tax to include the diamonds, the yachts, and the Rembrandts.” Under current law, the first $250,000 ($500,000 for married couples) of capital gains on the sale of your primary residence are exempt from tax. Warren wants to create a wealth tax that would fall on the ownership of financial assets such as corporate stock or bonds. Many progressives at the national level like this idea. This will be difficult to accomplish when Americans learn about the magnitude of this taxation. A surtax on residential property in Colorado will be met with resistance if the electorate is informed.

The experiment with the wealth tax in Europe was a failure in many countries. France’s wealth tax contributed to the exodus of an estimated 42,000 millionaires between 2000 and 2012, among other problems. Emmanuel Macron, President of France, ultimately killed it.

In 1990, twelve countries in Europe had a wealth tax. Today, there are only three: Norway, Spain, and Switzerland. According to reports by the OECD and others, there were some clear themes with the policy: it was expensive to administer, it was hard on people with lots of assets but little cash, it distorted saving and investment decisions, it pushed the rich and their money out of the taxing countries—and, perhaps worst of all, it didn’t raise much revenue.1

The wealth tax idea was substantially influenced by the work of discredited French economist Thomas Piketty, whose book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, was focused on redistributing wealth in Europe.

Although a wealth tax will be difficult to impose in America, some states, like Colorado, are considering an increased surtax on residential property to accomplish their tax agenda and circumvent taxpayer opposition. It is important for Coloradans to support TABOR, and oppose surtaxes on residential property. Apathy and ignorance encourage the passions of radical progressivism. Stay tuned. The progressives will not give up until they lose elections.

1 https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/02/26/698057356/if-a-wealth-tax-is-such-a-good-idea-why-did-europe-kill-theirs#:~:text=The%20experiment%20with%20the%20wealth%20tax%20in%20Europe,twelve%20countries%20in%20Europe%20had%20a%20wealth%20tax.

May 18

Menten: Jefferson County ‘listening’ tour leaves out inconvenient facts

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Jefferson County is one of more than a dozen counties in Colorado that is still enjoys the protections of government revenue caps under the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) amendment. In years of excess revenue collection, the taxpayers traditionally benefit from this TABOR feature by a temporary property tax reduction. Unfortunately, County Commissioners Lesley Dahlkemper, Andy Kerr, and Tracy Kraft-Tharp didn’t want to issue the 2020 refunds in an efficient way, instead, they chose to spend $200,000 in postage to send $1.5 million dollars in rebate checks to residents.

The commissioners chose to unnecessarily spend that money so that they could then introduce a recently concluded promotional tour gauging feedback on whether they would be successful in eliminating all or parts of the TABOR revenue caps.  County voters decidedly said no to a similar effort in 2019.  In addition, they are polling meeting participants about an alternative sales tax increase.

The problem is that those who have read the county promotional literature and attended the meetings haven’t been given all the facts.

Click (HERE) to go to Complete Colorado to continue reading this story.

May 06

Democrats’ top legislative priority: re-election

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Democrats’ top legislative priority: re-election

    • By Mark Hillman

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Mark Hillman

God saw fit to stop at 10 commandments, but politicians can’t leave well enough alone, so a series of “Eleventh Commandments” apply to them. One of those admonishes: Thou shall not make the voters more cynical.

This year, Democrats at our State Capitol are breaking that commandment, too.

So, let’s take a little walk down memory lane and remember this journey through Election Day.

Last week, Gov. Jared Polis and legislative Democrats tossed aside 30 years of fierce opposition to Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) which they’ve blamed for everything from crumbling roads to failing schools. Instead, they held a press conference to tout “their” plan to send every taxpayer a $400 check barely one month before voters receive their general election ballots.

There’s just one problem: that money already belongs to taxpayers.

Continue reading →