Colorado Politics reports that a coalition including the Colorado Education Association has launched a campaign for Proposition NN, a ballot measure that would reduce more than $1 billion in TABOR refunds and redirect the money toward education and related programs.
Here is the plain-English version. TABOR refunds are money returned to taxpayers when state government collects above the allowed limit. Proposition NN would let the state keep more of that money instead. Supporters call it an investment in children. Taxpayers may recognize it by its older name: taking your money before you get it back and hiring a consultant to explain why objecting means you hate third graders.
The average Colorado taxpayer could lose about $7,300 in refunds between fiscal years 2026-27 and 2036-37, according to the article’s cited nonpartisan analysis. The measure would reduce refunds by $136.1 million in the first year and $969.7 million the next. That is not “free money.” That is your money wearing a school-bus costume.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The teachers’ union is helping lead the campaign. The Colorado Education Association says the measure will strengthen schools, improve teacher retention and support students. Fine. But union leadership does not get to wave a crayon drawing at taxpayers and declare the budget conversation over.
- The money would not all go straight to classrooms. The proposal would first reimburse local governments for revenue lost through the homestead property-tax exemption. Then funds would go toward K-12 education and other programs serving children. A separate nonpartisan analysis cited in the article found that about 75% of retained refunds might instead flow into the state general fund, where lawmakers could use the money more broadly.
- The pitch is built around moral pressure. Supporters call it an investment in kids, families and Colorado’s future. That language is not accidental. It is the oldest move in the tax-and-spend playbook: put children on the brochure, hide the machinery in the footnotes and dare voters to ask where the money actually goes.
- Opponents warn the change could outlive the advertised window. Advance Colorado argues that once the state is allowed to retain the excess revenue, TABOR refunds could effectively disappear indefinitely because of the measure’s open-ended structure. Supporters dispute that framing, but the concern is not imaginary. Government rarely returns a revenue stream once it gets comfortable with it.
- The state says it cannot afford its own promises. Sen. Jeff Bridges argues Colorado will not be able to fully fund education under the school-finance formula without more money. That is revealing. The same people who write the spending commitments then point to those commitments as proof they need your refund. Neat trick. Set the kitchen on fire, then invoice the homeowner for water.
My Bottom Line
Here we go again.
Colorado’s ruling class has a spending problem, so naturally it has diagnosed taxpayers with a revenue problem. Families are paying more for housing, groceries, utilities, insurance and nearly everything else that comes with remaining alive in this state. The political response is to intercept more than $1 billion in refunds and call the seizure compassion.
Education matters. Teachers matter. Students matter. That is exactly why “education” should not be treated as a sacred black hole where accountability goes to die. Every time results disappoint, the machine demands more money for the same system, the same bureaucracy and the same people explaining that one more billion should finally do the trick.
This is not an attack on classroom teachers. It is an attack on the ecosystem surrounding them: union leadership, ballot consultants, Democratic revenue addicts and the professional compassion industry that uses children as human shields for fiscal appetite.
The central fact is simple. The state collected more than it was allowed to keep. That money belongs to taxpayers. Proposition NN would reduce those refunds and let government retain more. Supporters can call it investment, partnership, fairness or any other word from the focus-group thesaurus. It is still a money grab with a school-bus paint job.
When government spends badly, it calls the result underfunding. When taxpayers want their refunds, government calls them selfish. When voters object, they get a tear-jerking ballot title and a parade of credentialed people explaining why their wallet is actually a moral defect.
The people who cannot budget Colorado now want to punish taxpayers for noticing.
Source: Colorado Politics
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