If you’re feeling like Colorado’s tax code is about to get “reimagined” right out from under you, that’s because it is. The Denver Post lays out two Democrat-backed ballot pushes that would take a serious swing at TABOR, and yes, the goal is to change what you pay and what the state gets to keep.
Here’s what happened, where: Democrats, along with the Colorado Education Association and the Bell Policy Center, are working to put two measures on the November ballot aimed at raising the TABOR spending cap and shifting Colorado from a flat income tax to a graduated income tax.
Neither idea is subtle. That’s almost refreshing. Almost.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Democrats and allied groups are pursuing two November ballot measures that would significantly change Colorado’s tax structure and TABOR’s limits.
- One proposal tied to the Colorado Education Association would exempt the state share of K-12 funding from the TABOR cap, creating a $4.5 billion buffer and requiring at least 2% annual growth in education funding.
- Legislative economists forecast the state will be $501 million over the cap next fiscal year and $807 million over the following year, money that would be kept under the cap-change proposal instead of refunded.
- A separate Bell Policy Center initiative would replace the 4.4% flat income tax with a graduated system, including a higher rate on income over $500,000 (between 7.4% and 8.4%).
- Gov. Jared Polis has signaled caution about relying on years when the state does not generate a TABOR surplus, while some Democratic lawmakers say they will not agree to an income tax cut in negotiations.
My Bottom Line
TABOR is not a glitch in the system. TABOR is the system doing what voters told it to do: limit government growth and force politicians to ask permission before keeping more of your money. In the Denver/Boulder Bubble, asking permission apparently counts as oppression.
Let’s not pretend this is just about “the kids.” If you need a $4.5 billion buffer to get $90 million to $100 million into classrooms, that’s not a plan. That’s a committee-written detour with a toll booth and a gift shop.
Here’s the part they skip: once the state gets used to keeping money that used to be refunded, that “refund” starts getting treated like a mistake. You can call it “investment” all day long, but for families balancing groceries, gas, and property taxes, it feels like the state found a new way to spend their raise before they ever see it.
If the cap is lifted and the code is rewritten, the temptation to spend more becomes permanent and the threshold for giving money back gets higher.
When government says it wants “flexibility,” it means you lose yours.
If supporters want voters to buy this, make it clean and measurable: define exactly what gets exempted, what gets spent, what gets refunded, and what outcomes change. And if this is really about trust, then trust taxpayers enough to keep TABOR intact and bring forward targeted, transparent funding requests that stand on their own.
Source: The Denver Post
