Despite widespread approval of TABOR by voters, the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate (from Boulder, of course) is planning to refer a ballot measure that would allow the state to keep nearly $1 billion in (highly) anticipated revenue through June 2020 — money that otherwise would get refunded to taxpayers. How do the lawmakers plan to use it? They would split it evenly between K-12 education, higher education, and transportation.
That might sound good to some, but remember, last time we raised taxes (and, yes, that’s what this is) in this manner through Referendum C, there were many (very legitimate) questions about whether the money raised was spent appropriately and on the things that were promised.
The interesting thing about this episode is that there’s one big Democrat who isn’t quite on board yet – Jared Polis, who has said that he would prefer to ensure any ballot initiative is set for success. But, don’t worry, according to the Colorado Sun, “a spokeswoman for the governor said he ‘will continue to work with stakeholders’ on the issue.” Sure. Just ask the oil and gas industry about the consulting of stakeholders.
Either way, consider this another overreach from Boulder liberals, who are hellbent on transforming Colorado into California in four short months. TABOR is the one thing that protects Colorado from becoming California. Get ready to fight, PeakNation™.