The absurdity of the state’s taxation quagmire is well-illustrated by a quintessentially Colorado juxtaposition.
Property owners face skyrocketing property tax bills, and at the same time they are expecting fat state tax rebates.
Welcome to Colorado’s TABOR nightmare.
The bad dream actually started in 1992. That’s when southern California transplant Douglas Bruce pushed the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights onto the ballot, and voters foolishly took the bait.
As sold, TABOR allows only voters — not elected officials — to approve pretty much all tax increases, putting the “power of the purse” in the hands of residents, not lawmakers.
While that may sound empowering and wise, it upends the very nature of representative government and good sense. It leans on the foolish reality that nobody likes to pay more taxes, so let’s not.
All this boiled over again this week at the state Capitol, as legislators wrangled property tax cuts and more in a rare special session.
The problem is, it’s led to Colorado’s notoriously abysmal roads, desperately underfunded schools and a state patrol so thin that metro-area highway traffic has become just a barbaric lawless speedway.
As we have frequently pointed out, after more than two decades of 49 other states kicking the tires on enacting their own TABOR, not one other single state — including Texas, Mississippi or any other conservative stronghold — has even attempted to adopt it.
It’s that bad of an idea, and Colorado is stuck with it.
All residents have to do to see how effective TABOR has been at depressing road maintenance, classroom size-reduction and addressing the state’s myriad challenges, is look around.
Has it saved Colorado taxpayers money?
No.
Colorado was in the middle of overall tax-burden among all states before TABOR was inflicted on the state, and it’s right in the middle of the list of states right now, according to a variety of tax-watch lists. We’re No. 24.
The most recent problem inflicted by TABOR was how to dial back spiraling property taxes. Because properties are taxed on the value of homes and businesses, rising values means rising tax bills, netting rising tax receipts for the state.
So the current system allows the government to take money out of one of your pockets, and then TABOR makes the government put money back in your other pocket.
The morass is made even more complicated and unwieldy because not all governments are alike under the thumb of TABOR. Some governments can keep some or all “excess” revenue, which is any amount of tax revenue collected over what was collected the previous year. Some governments and school districts have had voters impose a workaround to that by “de-Brucing” the local government’s cap on revenues.
The endless mix of governments living under different TABOR spending plans compelled state Democrats and Gov. Jared Polis to ask voters to approve an equally complex and convoluted Proposition HH to lower property taxes and preserve government budgets.
Unable to easily explain the complicated bill, it quickly fell from voter favor as conservatives attacked it, saying it was intended to rob taxpayers of their rightful TABOR refunds.
So, this week, state lawmakers took most of Proposition HH and passed it as law. Unclear is whether some school districts, counties, cities and special districts will further reduce property tax levies on residents, if they can, or if they might even force taxpayers to pony up even more, above the state’s allowable take, under TABOR.
State experts predict that taxes on “average” homes of $500,000 will see a savings of about $200 or so, working out to about $17 a month. It almost certainly won’t be enough to completely offset a property tax increase twice that much, or more, imposed by rising property values.
And as the state’s tax system, cemented in place by TABOR, collects more taxes, it also sends “excess” tax revenues back in the form of TABOR “refund checks,” estimated to be about $800 for every taxpayer next year.
If all this sounds hopelessly confusing, it is.
The bottom line, however, is that taxes are no lower in Colorado than they are in half of the states. You don’t have to look far to see how badly the state needs tax revenue for cops, road repair and endless other critical services. And it takes a special session of the Legislature to try and figure out a way to save taxpayers money without shutting down the government.
If there is one ballot measure Colorado would do well to put before taxpayers, it would be the option to rid the state of a nuisance so pernicious that even states run by the most right-wing of conservative extremists and tax-protesters would never touch it.
If TABOR is so evil, how is that no one has brought forth a successful ballot measure to repeal it straight up?
The people were clearly NOT fooled by HH. Yes, property taxes need attention but this measure was DOA because of its inherent deceit.
LOL, the hysterics over rising property taxes after Gallagher was repealed are pretty elegant proof that people don’t like paying more of them.
Is anyone really surprised with the Sentinel’s take on the this proposition HH rejection by the voters? The nerve of some people to want to hold on to their own money and refuse to trust Government with their money, a fundamental economic concept Dave Perry can’t or won’t understand. Voters caught on and said no to this redistribution of their money scheme. In fact, most of the state caught on well. Out of 64 counties voting in Colorado only 5 counties approved this. ttps://kdvr.com/election-results/colorado-prop-hh-2023/
Despite the elections outcome for a most clear guidance given to direct Government policy, that directive was summarily overturned. Governor Polis, and his current legislature majority were shocked at the rejection, and Dave Perry, was out-of-his-mind shocked as well. And knowing what these Colorado leaders wanting to grow this state into a pronounced welfare state using the Governor’s executive authority called for “special secession” which was needed immediately. So now, through the use of a political back door we have the purported redistribution tax-scheme attaining traction.
In the end, after the lawsuits are filed for this preposterous political fiasco, which shall hopefully get to overturning this most difficult having any confidence anymore in much of it capital buildings sessions work —
But, TABOR will still be here.