The State Capitol was a flurry of activity in the last week as Democrats pushed through much of their agenda in the waning hours of the session. Most notably, SB303 creates referred ballot measure Proposition HH to reduce property taxes by limiting TABOR refunds for 10 years, which will ultimately gut the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights for future generations. This will appear on the November ballot for voter approval.
To add insult to injury, HB1311 was also passed, which will flatten TABOR refunds for the next 2 years such that taxpayers will each receive about $670, regardless of how much they paid in taxes. This bill is tied to the passage of Prop HH, and incentivizes lower earners to support it on the assumption that the property tax explosion doesn’t affect them. (Spoiler Alert: it does.)
For an excellent explanation of how we got into this mess and the Dems’ ill-conceived response to it, check out Ben Murrey’s interview on Devil’s Advocate, produced by the Independence Institute:
youtube.com/watch?v=XOzt8-y1MWE
