If you see “Article X, Section 20” on your ballot, it means TABOR and deals with you giving up your Colorado state-constitution- mandated refund.
Oct
23
Oct
23
Detailing Pueblo West’s Initiative 5A
KOAA.com | Continuous News | Colorado Springs and Pueblo
Pueblo West will be voting on an initiative that would help fund a new community pool, but it would be using excess money that is supposed to be returned to the taxpayer.
Pueblo West tried voting on de-brucing, but that didn’t work, so the ballot is calling for a TABOR timeout for the next ten years to pay for an aquatic center. Basically that means a ‘yes’ vote allows Pueblo West to obtain all tax revenue, a ‘no’ vote would keep Colorado TABOR laws in place which puts a cap on tax revenue a municipality can obtain, and that municipality has to refund the money to the taxpayers.
Pueblo West’s initiative 5A would bring partial funding for a new pool. Grant Shay says because of the current pool being overcrowded, his kids were turned away. Continue reading
Oct
21
Pot, minimum wage and plastic bags: Your guide to 2016’s hot ballot measures
More than 160 ballot measures going before voters this year
’Legalize it’: On Election Day, voters in different states get a say on recreational marijuana; hiking the minimum wage; and more.
On Nov. 8, Americans won’t just get their say on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: voters will weigh in on a slew of ballot measures concerning everything from the minimum wage to marijuana.
More than 160 statewide ballot measures are certified to go before voters this year in 35 states, according to Ballotpedia. While that’s down from some past years, the issues remain the kinds that stir voters up. Here’s a look at some hot-button measures facing Americans around the country on Election Day.
Minimum wage: There are measures to boost the minimum wage on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington. And in a referendum that may prove to be the bane of South Dakota teenagers, voters in that state will decide whether the minimum wage should drop by $1 an hour for workers under the age of 18. Continue reading
Oct
19
Voters Guide To The Election
Oct
19
The Purpose Of TABOR With Our Communications
TABOR supporters,
First of all, Thank You for being a member of the TABOR email list!
Emails you receive relay articles and information that both promote, as well as oppose, TABOR.
We don’t always provide articles that endorse TABOR.
It’s important to know the enemy.
You’re smart enough to realize our position advocating for and defending TABOR but we want you to see both sides of the issue.
After all, if TABOR wasn’t around, you and your fellow Coloradans would be paying much higher taxes.
You’re welcome to share TABOR emails to your contacts, along with our website, https://thetaborfoundation.org/
If you’re on Facebook, please “Like” and check out our TABOR page, http://www.facebook.com/coloradoTABOR/
People can join our email distribution list by sending an email with “subscribe” in the subject line to info@TheTABORCommittee.com .
And we do accept donations to help defray the cost of protecting your Taxpayer Bill Of Rights.
Thank you, again!
Any questions, please let us know.
We’re always willing to listen.
Warmest regards,
Your TABOR Board of Directors
Oct
16
Town may need to refund $400K
The Estes Park Town Board was notified by Town Attorney Greg White on Tuesday night in an executive session that the town might be in violation of parts of the TABOR amendment.
The Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR, was an amendment to the state constitution passed statewide by voters in 1992. Its intent was to limit annual growth in state and local tax revenues and have all tax increases voted on by residents.
However, one of the little known provisions of TABOR is the requirement that taxing entities must provide information in advance of the vote about how much tax is estimated to be generated in the first year.
Oct
15
You Don’t Pay Taxes….
Oct
13
EDITORIAL: TABOR lawsuit misguided
CHIEFTAIN EDITORIAL
Published: October 12, 2016;
PUEBLO CITY Schools (D60) Board of Education has joined a lawsuit that would overturn the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Pueblo County District 70 joined the federal case earlier.
Educators have been led to believe that repealing TABOR’s state and local tax and spending restrictions would trickle down into more legislative funding of the public schools. Not so fast. The state’s recent budget history says otherwise.
Since approved by the voters in 1992, TABOR has done what it promised to do, which is to require voter approval before taxes can be raised and to tie revenue increases to Colorado’s overall economic growth unless voters permit.
In fact, state revenues and spending have increased every year under TABOR even under the cap of combined growth in population and inflation.
Oct
12
Letter: Don’t be misled by TABOR haters
However, that TABOR requirement leads directly to greater government accountability and transparency. That’s good.
Young misdirects his anger at the duplicate vote. He should instead direct his impatience at the inaccurate information offered by the tax increase proponents.
The Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights requires that you know what the cost will be for any new program or expansion of an existing program. You can weigh whether the price is worth it. The voter then can make an informed decision.
No one wants to give proponents of any measure the incentive to underestimate the cost. Yet, if low-balling the cost helps the measure to pass, there would be pressure for proponents to fudge the numbers. Better to get it right.
Whenever government will grow faster than the automatic increases allowed every year, the voter should know by how much. Voters must demand strict accountability and honesty in creating the estimates. Don’t let tax increase proponents hide the real cost of the programs; don’t let Young mislead you.
There are people who want government to increase its reach into our lives and to spend more of your money on public goods; these folks will always oppose the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. Let them present their arguments fairly and truthfully, but they should not argue for eliminating honesty and accountability.
Penn R. Pfiffner, chairman of the TABOR Committee, is a former legislator who has been involved in fiscal policy issues for over three decades.
Oct
07
Will school districts make the difference in the legal fight against TABOR, Colorado’s tax law?
By Yesenia Robles
yrobles@chalkbeat.org
PUBLISHED: October 3, 2016 – 7:55 p.m. EDT
( Photo by Denver Post file )
A long-running legal challenge to Colorado’s constitutional amendment limiting tax revenues gained significant new allies Monday: school boards from five school districts.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th circuit ruled that the lawsuit brought in 2011 had no standing because the original plaintiffs were not “directly injured by the law.”
The hope is that adding school districts to the lawsuit will meet that standard, and convince a district court judge that the lawsuit should proceed.
The boards from Denver Public Schools, Boulder Valley School District, Pueblo City Schools, Cheyenne County School District and Gunnison Watershed School District joined the suit.
Mike Johnson, a Denver school board member, said in a statement that since TABOR was enacted 24 years ago, Colorado has dropped to No. 42 in the nation in public funding for education, more than $2,000 per pupil lower than the national average.
“We are joining this lawsuit to restore the ability of the DPS board and the legislature to fund public education at the level Colorado students deserve,” said Johnson, who made the case to his board colleagues last month to join the lawsuit.
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, was passed by voters in 1992. The law requires that local governments get approval from voters before raising taxes. It also limits the amount of taxes the government can collect, triggering refunds if revenues exceed an annually-adjusted cap, unless voters allow the government to keep the extra money. Continue reading