TAX COMMISSION POISED TO FAIL IN ITS CHARGE TO PROVIDE MEANINGFUL PROPERTY TAX RELIEF
(DENVER) – A state tax commission charged with finding solutions to ease the burden of 25 percent property tax increases is poised to fail by rejecting meaningful tax relief measures, according to Advance Colorado President Michael Fields. Instead, the panel will endorse weak and vague solutions that put the needs of government ahead of addressing the financial pain of Colorado homeowners.
One of the main proposals would allow taxpayers to spread their tax payments over 12 months.
“Telling Coloradans they can pay unaffordable property tax hikes in ‘12 easy payments’ is not a serious state effort to address this tax crisis,” Fields said. “Voters clearly showed in the landslide defeat of Proposition HH that they are not interested in slick gimmicks or empty rhetoric. They know real tax relief when they see it.”
Fields said that the majority of the commission members seem more focused on protecting unfettered increases in government revenue than helping Coloradans struggling to pay soaring local property tax bills.
“The problem isn’t government’s cash flow, it’s the amount of cash that taxpayers are flowing to government,” Fields said. “Instead of vague ‘solutions’ and more studies, Coloradans want real solutions now.”
He said the Commission’s refusal to offer concrete, serious tax-relief solutions provides renewed impetus for the Colorado Tax Rollback ballot initiative Advance Colorado has proposed with Colorado Concern.
The proposed ballot measure would return property taxes paid by homeowners and businesses to near-2022 levels, and cap revenue from future property tax increases at 4 percent. Only a vote of the people would allow governments to collect more than 4 percent in new property tax revenue in a year, a mechanism that will protect taxpayers from huge property value spikes like those experienced in Colorado recently. The measure also has a revenue backfill measure for local entities, including schools, public safety, and first responders.
Fields noted that in urging legislators to create the tax commission, Gov. Polis had proposed at a news conference to “put together a blue-ribbon panel to figure out a long-term fix” and that “…we need to constrain the future growth of property taxes. That means a cap.”
“It is disappointing that the tax commission is ducking the Governor’s charge to provide a long-term fix that keeps property taxes low.” Fields said. “We can guarantee that our ballot measure will indeed save people a lot of money and prevent them from being hit hard by future tax spikes.”
