After 30 years of success, legislative leftists still hate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) Amendment. Voters have rejected past schemes to surrender our right to vote on runaway government growth, but politicians won’t leave us alone.
In 2022, they reluctantly sent us a TABOR refund of excess state revenue ($750 per person, $1,500 for joint filers), but their resolve is still “Never again!”
On the last day of this year’s session, a one-party cabal put on the ballot their 48-page scam for a new cap that will exponentially increase state spending. Dozens of conservative legislators walked out. Legislative hearings? Last minute. Public input? Limited. Respect for the Constitution? None. Respect for the rule of law? None.
A constitutional mandate like TABOR cannot legally be changed by a regular bill like Senate Bill 303 to put Proposition HH on the ballot. No election to change TABOR can be held in an off-year like 2023. You know that. Politicians count on their politically-appointed judges (whose salaries they set) to “look the other way” on this gross illegality of violating the Constitution by holding a TABOR refund theft-vote this fall.
Proposition HH’s legislative larceny teases voters with one refund paid out equally to all taxpayers in 2024 then the law reduces TABOR refunds every year with a new, higher spending limit. Politicians can continue this new, much higher, TABOR cap forever, with no more voting, no more elections, no more control of pork barrel spending.
Why? Politicians don’t want to live on a budget; they want a blank check. When Congress overspends by trillions of dollars (numbers not heard until recently), when inflation has returned, it is no time for Colorado to follow the worst habit of government — overspending.
Even if you don’t care about economics, you must care about your children’s right to vote on this TABOR spending increase, and that of your grandchildren and those not yet born. You must care about an attack on your constitutional right to approve increases to the TABOR limit which we all pay for with taxes.
Renters will see a reduction in their state refunds, forever, and don’t get even the crumb of tiny property tax relief. Two million renters would fight over an average per household of $10 per year in rental assistance to offset the multi-billion dollar state tax increase. That is a cruel joke.
The state will eventually keep all state tax refund dollars; property owners get a few bucks temporarily kicked back. Cynics under the dome in Denver like that trade-off. Proposition HH hands school bureaucrats, tens of thousands of dollars every year, likely for pay raises, regardless of merit. Why do school unions back Proposition HH with six-figure campaign donations? Dirty money.
Proposition HH is so corrupt even local governments rebel. Thousands of local districts (fire districts, libraries, parks, etc.) belong to the Special District Association. SDA opposes HH because the state isn’t going to use the revenue collected under the new TABOR cap to make them whole; that is a political earthquake.
Also opposed to the new limits on their property tax collections under Proposition HH are the Municipal League and Colorado Counties, Inc. One Democrat state senator who voted to put HH on the ballot, Joann Ginal, now opposes HH and is asking for a special session to discuss the measure again.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Colo. Association of Realtors, and more oppose Prop. HH. It is too extreme even for moderates. State politicians cynically attempt to buy the votes of seniors, but senior tax relief under HH is a mirage. Lawmakers could pass a simple law at any time increasing the homestead exemptions for seniors or making it portable to a new home.
Rising home valuations do not raise property taxes. Assessors can’t raise tax revenue. TABOR (7)(c) says big property value increases require lowering tax rates (mill levies) to avoid such government windfalls. That is the law, which is being ignored by almost every city and county in Colorado every year because of fraudulent votes to exempt themselves from TABOR’s limits.
For 30 years, ballot issues for tax increases have begun “SHALL STATE TAXES BE INCREASED ($X) ANNUALLY…?” HH does not follow the law. Why?
This year’s Proposition II is a “do-over” because the state did not tell 2020 voters the TABOR truth about the nicotine and tobacco tax hike. State politicians now evade the truth about the multi-billion dollar Proposition HH tax hike. They want a blank check. Big surprise. They don’t need voter OK to lower taxes or help seniors, only to raise them. How much does HH cost? No one knows. Do not trust official economic forecasts that show TABOR refunds will continue. Would you buy a car or house without knowing the cost? Of course not, so don’t buy the lies about HH.
Prop. HH is the largest state tax increase in American history — a one percentage point yearly increase in the revenue limit, compounding annually forever. The true cost is a secret. Read that again. Taking your tax refunds is a tax hike. This is our most important ballot issue ever. Don’t be fooled. Save your right to vote. Save TABOR. Vote NO on HH. “Do it for the children.”
Douglas Bruce wrote TABOR, which statewide voters passed in 1992. He lives in Colorado Springs. Visit HH-NO.com to learn more.
