Marianne Goodland’s piece in The Denver Gazette is the sort of budget story that somehow gets treated like a surprise every time, even though the ending is always the same: government spends too much, promises too much, and then acts offended when math shows up. Her March 19 report lays out a worsening state revenue forecast that pushes Colorado’s budget shortfall to nearly $1.5 billion, which means deeper cuts in the next fiscal budget and no TABOR refunds for Colorado residents.
The article walks through dueling forecasts from the Legislative Council and the governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting, but the headline reality is not complicated. Revenues are coming in lower than expected, the hole is getting bigger, and budget writers are now scrambling to figure out which programs get trimmed, delayed, or shoved overboard. Democrats on the Joint Budget Committee called the numbers “devastating” and pointed to rising prices, federal cuts, global uncertainty, and TABOR constraints. Republicans, meanwhile, argued the budget mess is self-inflicted after years of overspending and steady government growth.
Goodland also notes that education funding, Medicaid spending, and broader economic uncertainty are all pressing on the budget at once. Legislative Council economists downgraded the 2026-27 forecast by another $643 million, bringing the total shortfall to about $1.47 billion, while the governor’s economists were somewhat more optimistic in certain areas. But even the more upbeat read still acknowledges weaker consumer demand, tighter household finances, and a meaningful recession risk. In other words, the numbers may squabble over the margins, but the state is still staring at a fiscal wall.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado’s budget shortfall is now sitting at nearly $1.5 billion after another downgrade in the revenue forecast. That is not a bump in the road. That is the road ending.
- The Legislative Council says revenues for 2025-26 came in $354 million lower than estimated in December, with the 2026-27 estimate also down another $143 million. Apparently the state budget was built on hope, vibes, and Democratic press releases.
- No TABOR refunds are expected in 2026 because revenues will not hit the cap. Naturally, when Colorado families get squeezed, the political class suddenly remembers how much it dislikes giving taxpayers their money back.
- Democrats on the Joint Budget Committee called the forecast “devastating” and pointed to inflation, federal cuts, global instability, and TABOR. Funny how the people who ran the place for years always discover outside villains right when the bill comes due.
- Republicans argued the problem is self-inflicted after years of overspending and expansion of government. Hard to call that a fringe theory when the state is broke after one-party control spent years feeding every shiny pet program in sight.
My Bottom Line
Here is another story that surprises absolutely no one except the people who caused it. Colorado Democrats have had years of control, years to govern, years to prioritize, years to prove that bigger government and more spending would somehow lead to fiscal enlightenment. Instead, they gave us a state budget gasping for air and now want to act like this was done to them by Donald Trump, TABOR, the weather, and possibly Mercury in retrograde.
No. The blame belongs squarely where it belongs. Seven years of solid Democratic control in Colorado produced seven years of bloated priorities, pet programs, and endless virtue-signaling on the taxpayer’s dime. They taxed, regulated, and fee’d this state into a corner, then acted like every new government scheme was morally mandatory. Turns out performative governance is expensive. Who knew.
And now, right on cue, they are blaming TABOR for doing exactly what TABOR is supposed to do, which is restrain government’s appetite and protect taxpayers from politicians who never met a dollar they did not want to spend. TABOR did not create this mess. TABOR is one of the few reasons the mess is not even worse. If anything, it is the fence keeping the livestock from trampling the whole farm.
As for blaming Trump, that is just lazy. It is the standard move when Democrats run out of excuses and need a national villain to distract from local incompetence. Colorado’s budget was not wrecked by Trump. It was wrecked by years of decisions made under the gold dome by people who treated the treasury like a progressive wish list with no bottom.
Colorado voters ought to remember this when they pick a new governor this fall. The same party that spent years growing government, growing obligations, and growing the burden on families will now ask for one more chance to fix the problems it created. That takes nerve. It also takes a voter with a very short memory.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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