Like other Colorado homeowners, I opened a little white envelope this week and found out my property taxes were going to go up, way up. My home’s value is 57% higher than before which means I could pay $1,400 more in taxes next year.
Adjunct professors aren’t one-percenters; we’re more like Starbucks employees minus benefits and free coffee. Property values, which are reassessed every two years in odd-numbered years, went up in the Denver metro area by 35% to 45%. Some of us got even luckier.
Monday, the governor flanked by Democrats announced they’re here to help. In a departure from their usual rob Peter to pay Paul redistributionist schemes, their best idea is to rob Peter to pay Peter. They will place an initiative on the ballot asking voters to provide themselves property tax relief by, in effect, raising income taxes.
The proposal would lower the state’s assessment rate on residential property from 6.98% to 6.7% of the value of the home. I did the math; that’s a reduction of less than 1%. Imagine a store advertising a GIANT LESS THAN 1% SALE!
The proposal also exempts $40,000 of the house’s value from the assessment. It would limit revenue increases for local government except for school districts which take the lion’s share of property taxes. Local governments could still vote to exceed the cap.
Worst of all, the state would confiscate part of taxpayer’s refunds under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). They insist that the state must backfill funds to local districts even though districts are set for a windfall of cash even with the proposal’s minuscule reduction in the valuation rate. The proposal will also raise TABOR limits in future years so the state can keep more of your money, a goal Democrats have had since the voters approved TABOR in 1992.
The governor’s proposal may take a couple hundred off the bill while reducing my TABOR refund. Other homeowners with modest means are in the same boat. It could be worse; renters will lose TABOR refund money without any benefit.
Last year, these same Democrats championed TABOR refunds. That was an election year. Now they’re championing this referred ballot measure with “we’re here to save the day” fanfare. This could not be more disingenuous.
Democrats knew residential property taxes would rise when they pushed for a repeal of the Gallagher Amendment. Without Gallagher, there is nothing to restrain the rise of residential property taxes as values increase. Ironically, the repeal proposal led with the phrase “Without increasing property rates…” fooling the average voter into thinking property taxes wouldn’t increase.
Rates need not increase for homeowners to pay substantially more. The sly bit of wordsmithing may have made a difference during the election but in reality, it’s a distinction without a difference akin to “No, officer, I wasn’t texting, I was tweeting.”
With housing demand outstripping supply, rising inflation, and Gallagher out of the way, home values were guaranteed to rise. Democrats knew this yet two months ago they killed a Republican bill to cap property tax increases. Then in the final six days of the legislature, they offered a Rube Goldberg contraption of a proposal that only provides marginal relief to taxpayers by taking from taxpayers.
Even Channel 9’s Kyle Clark recognized the irony noting on Twitter that one of the governor’s favorite phrases is ‘saving Coloradans money’ and yet “His plan to reduce property tax increases essentially takes a dollar from your wallet, puts it in your pocket, and declares that he’s saved you money.”
Basically, Democrats created a problem, ignored the problem, and are now using the problem as an excuse to raid TABOR refunds. Looks like ineptitude, indifference, and avarice to me but I could be talked into believing a conspiracy theory that this was a devious three-year plot to raid TABOR.
Fortunately, taxpayer advocacy group Advance Colorado is working on a citizen’s initiative to limit property tax increases to 3% a year or 6% in two years. Coloradans may get an opportunity to help themselves no thanks to the Democrat majority in the legislature.
Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @kristakafer
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