The skyrocketing costs of home values is expected to pack a wallop in the wallets of homeowners this year in terms of additional property taxes they’ll be forced to pay.
Rather than force people out of their homes they’ve inherited from their parents or owned for decades, Colorado Concern is pushing a ballot initiative to cap the 6.95% tax rate at 3%.
Government and schools would still get a nice bump in taxes, just not the $1.3 billion windfall of our tax dollars they were hoping for.
That’s why some greedy Democrats are hoping to add a guilt trip to the proposed ballot language to convince homeowners that government bureaucrats need their hard-earned money more than taxpayers need to keep a roof over their heads.
The Colorado Sun reports the Secretary of State’s office, which decides how ballot questions are worded, says this one “should include a warning to voters about how it could siphon $1.3 billion in forecast tax revenue from schools and local districts in its first year.”
The ruling stems from the Colorado legislature’s passage last year of House Bill 1321, a measure brought by Democrats requiring ballot measures that are cutting taxes to include an explanation of how much revenue would be slashed and what programs would be most affected. The new law also now requires measures raising taxes to explain how the new revenue would be spent.
Yet others would argue this measure does not cut taxes, but limits the exploding growth of a tax bill.
Gov. Polis insisted when he signed the bill it would not apply to measures seeking to slow the rate of revenue increases.
But that was then, this is now, when Polis is running for reelection.
Polis hasn’t taken a public position on the initiative. He demurred when asked about the measure last week by The Colorado Sun. “There’s a lot of ballot initiatives that are out there,” Polis said.
The bill’s author, Democrat state Sen. Brittany Pettersen, says this is exactly why she wrote the guilt trip bill and stands by her greed.
Just finished an online poll for the opponents of the tax cut measure. I suspect their door to door effort will sound something like this. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/oke2pTeGFu
— Jesse Mallory (@jessemallory) March 30, 2022
If the Title Board in Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office moves forward with the ballot language, Mike Kopp, president and CEO of Colorado Concern, says his group may take them to court.
Informing voters about the effect of proposed ballot measures is one thing, but it sounds like Griswold’s office is playing politics yet again and trying to manipulate the vote.