TAXES

FROM PAGE 7 districts would be exempt and local governments could override the cap after giving notice to property owners. e Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, is a 1992 constitutional amendment that requires voter approval for all tax increases in Colorado. It also caps government growth and spending, mandating that tax revenue collected in excess of the cap be refunded to taxpayers. e cap is calculated using in ation and population rates. e change would reduce or eliminate the amount of money available for refunds in years in which the cap is exceeded. e change could mean voters won’t get billions in refunds over the next decade.

To account for the cuts, the legislature is planning to spend $200 million to repay local governments, including schools, for the additional revenue they would have collected. e plan also calls for using about $250 million of the $2.7 billion Colorado is projected to collect in the current scal year, which ends June 30, above the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights cap on government growth and spending, to further account for local districts’ revenue reduction.

What is TABOR?

Additionally, voters would be asked in November to increase the TABOR cap, which is calculated based on annual growth in population and in ation, by an extra 1%. (Any money collected over the cap has to be refunded.)

Finally, Proposition HH would set aside about $20 million each year for a state renter relief program — a late addition to the measure aimed at acknowledging the proposal mostly bene ts property owners.

If voters approve Proposition HH, that would trigger a change to how the state will distribute more than $2 billion in TABOR refunds next year. e money would be refunded through at-rate checks of roughly $650 or $1,300, depending on whether someone is a single or joint tax ler, as opposed to a system where the refund amounts are tied to which of six income tiers taxpayers fall into, with higher earners getting larger refunds and lower earners receiving less. e Colorado Sun co-owns Colorado Community Media as a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy. It is a readersupported news organization dedicated to covering the people, places and policies that matter in Colorado. Read more, sign up for free newsletters and subscribe at coloradosun.com.

Advance Colorado, which is a dark money group, has already launched an ad campaign opposing Proposition HH. e Sun refers to political nonpro ts that don’t disclose their donors as dark money groups.