Colorado Budget Plan Targets TABOR Refunds

Colorado Politics reporter Marianne Goodland lays out one of the nastier little tricks buried in Colorado’s proposed $46.8 billion budget: the state wants to keep $306.1 million by canceling TABOR refunds that should go back to taxpayers. The justification from Gov. Jared Polis’ administration is that federal budget changes altered the state’s revenue picture for 2024-25, and if that had been known sooner, the refunds would not have gone out in the first place. That is the official explanation. It is also the kind of explanation only a government could give with a straight face.

Goodland reports that even Joint Budget Committee staff threw a flag on the play. In a Feb. 20 memo cited in the article, staff warned that keeping the $306.1 million across the next two budget years would not be legal. Even so, the JBC rejected that warning and decided to use half of it, $153 million, in the 2026-27 budget-balancing process, with the rest pushed into the following year. So yes, the people handling your money were told this may be illegal and kept walking anyway. Very Colorado Capitol.

This piece is from Colorado Politics, written by Marianne Goodland, and it is one of those stories that strips away the fog machine. The numbers matter, but the bigger point is simpler: government over-collected, taxpayers are owed refunds, and the governor’s crowd is trying to hang on to the cash because they have already spent it in their heads.

The Bullet Point Brief

• Buried in the budget is a $306.1 million “savings” line item that comes from canceling TABOR refunds. “Savings,” of course, is a cute term for “money the government decided to keep.”
• Polis’ office says the refunds were overpaid because later federal budget changes affected how 2024-25 revenue should have been calculated. In other words, the excuse is basically: we know now what we did not know then, so you should pay for our hindsight.
• JBC staff said flatly that keeping the $306.1 million over the next two budget years would not be legal. That is not a vague concern. That is your own budget staff saying, “Maybe do not do the illegal thing.”
• The JBC went ahead anyway and used $153 million of it for the 2026-27 budget, with the rest intended for the next year. Apparently “legal risk” is now just another line item in the budgeting process.
• Forecasts are shaky enough that even the assumed TABOR surplus may not cover everything, especially once the senior and disabled veterans’ property tax refund and homestead exemption are factored in. So this is not just arrogant. It is shaky math on top of shaky legal ground.

My Bottom Line

I have written about this already, and I am writing about it again because it is still outrageous. The governor does not care that this is your money. He does not care that TABOR refunds are not some generous little bonus from the benevolent ruling class. They are your refund. Your overpayment. Your money. The attitude here is painfully obvious: Jared Polis believes he knows better than you how to spend it.

And what makes this even worse is the shrugging contempt built into the whole maneuver. Even the Joint Budget Committee staff pointed out that this is likely illegal. Not politically awkward. Not a little risky. Illegal. But if you are governor and surrounded by lawyers, staff, and a friendly enough political machine, the calculation is simple. Most regular people are not going to lawyer up and sue the state over money the state should have returned in the first place. That takes time. That takes money. And the people trying to keep your refund know it.

That is what makes this feel abusive, because it is. It is government using complexity, delay, and institutional muscle to wear down the very people it is supposed to serve. Not because there is some grand emergency. Not because civilization will collapse without one more state program. But because the governor has projects, priorities, and pet ideas that all conveniently require your wallet to stay open and your mouth to stay shut.

TABOR was created precisely because Coloradans understood something the political class never changes: if you let government keep the extra money, it will. Every time. It will call it prudent. It will call it necessary. It will call it compassionate. But at the end of the day, it is still a hand in your pocket. And this time, they are not even pretending they found the hand there by accident.

Source: Colorado Politics