The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights has long provoked political tension, and this election year is proving no different, thanks to a larger-than-usual mandatory refund. But once again, politics is getting in the way of healthy policy discussion. So let’s first put in context the politics, and then consider what actually matters. The political games began […]
Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights
Posted inPolitics and Government
Jared Polis’ name isn’t on TABOR refund checks heading to Coloradans. But it will be on a letter accompanying them.
A letter from Gov. Jared Polis will accompany Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refund checks that are starting to be sent to Coloradans this week in the latest Democratic move around the money that’s sure to stoke more Republican allegations of political opportunism heading into the November election. In the letter, Polis writes “it is a […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: Strong local reporters become more critical in a post-truth political world
With just over three months until the 2022 general election, fabrications, half-truths, omissions and utter lies will dominate political discussion from now until November. It is the same song, just at a different tempo. We live in a post-truth political world. Misleading characterizations have always been a part of the political world. More than two […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Rising inflation is on a collision course with Colorado’s TABOR cap. And the state budget is in the middle.
The lawmakers who write Colorado’s budget are preparing to pare back some capital projects in the coming months as they contend with inflation straining a budget capped by the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. The TABOR cap, a key component of Colorado’s 1992 constitutional amendment limiting government growth and spending, is calculated by adding together […]
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Colorado’s governor, Democrats unveil plan to advance TABOR refund checks expected in spring 2023
Coloradans would receive their tax refunds for the current fiscal year up to eight months early under a bill unveiled Monday by Gov. Jared Polis and Democratic state lawmakers. Individual taxpayers would receive $400 under the plan while families would get $800. The money would be sent out as soon as August — before the […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Ballot measure would steer part of TABOR tax refunds to Colorado schools
Colorado voters could be asked to forgo a portion of expected tax refunds in order to steer more money to the state’s schools. Advocates filed paperwork Thursday to place an initiative on the November ballot that could generate somewhere between $820 million and $1.1 billion for K-12 schools without raising taxes. It would be the […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
House Republican Leader Hugh McKean: 2 bills that show how Colorado Democrats fought against you
In this session of the Colorado General Assembly, Democrats rammed through a far-left agenda using deception and misdirection. Two of the worst bills this session — House Bill 1266 and Senate Bill 260 — reveal the lengths Democrats will go to advance destructive policy. HB 1266, “Environmental Justice Disproportionate Impacted Community,” was passed on the […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s economy has recovered so quickly that the legislature will have to refund taxpayers under TABOR
Colorado taxpayers will be refunded as much as $2.8 billion in tax revenue collected over the three fiscal years because the state’s economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis has been so swift and strong and because of growth limits under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. That’s according to two tax-revenue forecasts — one from nonpartisan […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Lawmakers can allow school districts to raise property taxes without voter approval, Colorado Supreme Court rules
The Colorado legislature may permit school districts to incrementally raise property taxes in coming years without the normally required voter approval under a bill that’s headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk, the state Supreme Court ruled on Monday. Lawmakers asked the court to rule on the legality of House Bill 1164, which seeks to reverse […]
Posted inEconomy, News, Politics and Government
Colorado Democrats want to use one of TABOR’s most effective tax-halting mechanisms for themselves
One of the most effective parts of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights when it comes to stopping tax-raising ballot questions in Colorado is a requirement that voters be informed, IN CAPITAL LETTERS, about the eye-popping sum they are deciding whether to allow the government to collect. “SHALL STATE TAXES BE INCREASED $766,700,000 ANNUALLY FOR A […]