Colorado Legislative Session Robber Barons

The Denver Gazette Editorial Board goes straight at Colorado’s 2026 legislative session and calls it what it sees: robbery. The editorial argues that state lawmakers spent the session finding new and creative ways to take, redirect, or block taxpayer money, including withholding $306 million in TABOR surplus refunds the board says should be returned to taxpayers. Legislative staffers reportedly warned the move was legally risky, but lawmakers moved ahead anyway. Naturally. Nothing says “public service” like being warned the bridge is out and flooring it.

The editorial also blasts HB 26-1430, which it describes as a preemptive strike against Initiative 175, a proposed ballot measure that would direct $700 million from transportation-related taxes and fees to roads, bridges, and highways. The board argues Democrats are trying to undercut that citizen-led road-funding effort by cutting the very revenue stream the initiative would use. Then, for dessert, the piece points to a “shadow” effort to replace Colorado’s flat income tax with a graduated income tax that could increase state income-tax collections by $4.1 billion annually. Steal the refund, rob the roads, pick the pockets. That is not a platform. That is a crime spree with committee hearings.

The Bullet Point Brief

“Legislative robber barons” nails it. Not gently. Not almost. Right on the forehead like a branding iron.
The editorial says lawmakers voted to withhold $306 million in TABOR surplus refunds from taxpayers. Translation: the state accidentally let you keep too much of your own money, and now the ruling class would like it back.
Legislative staff reportedly warned that keeping the money flouted the law. Lawmakers apparently heard “legal risk” and thought, “Wonderful, put it on the calendar.”
HB 1430 is framed as a fake tax cut designed to sabotage Initiative 175, which would force transportation dollars toward roads, bridges, and highways. In Colorado politics, even a road can get mugged in broad daylight.
The editorial connects the dots: TABOR refunds, transportation money, and a possible graduated income tax. Same song, different pickpocket. The chorus is always “trust us.”

My Bottom Line

Legislative robber barons. Yup, that nails it perfectly.

The Denver Gazette Editorial Board absolutely hits the bullseye with this one. I have very little to add except this: read it, absorb it, print it, frame it, laminate it, and maybe slip a copy under the door of every suburban normie who still thinks Colorado politics is just background noise between youth soccer and Netflix.

Because this is what one-party dominance looks like. It does not arrive wearing a ski mask. It arrives wearing a lapel pin, speaking in consultant phrases, and telling you it is “investing in Colorado’s future” while it pats down your wallet. The ruling Democrats have gotten so comfortable under the gold dome that they no longer feel the need to hide the game. They just rename the game and dare you to notice.

TABOR refunds? Yours, until they decide otherwise. Road funding? Important, unless voters try to make them actually fund roads. Flat tax? Fair and simple, which is exactly why the tax-hungry crowd keeps circling it like coyotes around a chicken coop.

This is the result of unchecked political control: arrogance, fiscal gamesmanship, and a legislature that treats taxpayers like an ATM with no withdrawal limit. Colorado’s great suburban normie had better wake up. The robber barons are not coming. They are already here, and they are writing bills.

Source: The Denver Gazette