Gov. Jared Polis did some tap-dancing at a recent bill signing to cover the mess Democrats have made in Colorado to send property valuations soaring and property taxes rising.  He had to call a special session to address property taxes earlier in November 2023.

Prior to signing bills, Polis spoke.  “So, just again, a little bit of background: we all know where we are and what we’re dealing with on property taxes.  After the people of our state rejected both the Gallagher and the Prop. HH amendments, we have a real-life situation where across the state assessments went up by about 40 percent.  Most Coloradoans’ income did not go up by that level, and we need to act to cut property taxes, which we are.”

Gov. Polis placed blame on Colorado voters for making property assessments and property taxes go up by how they voted in 2020 and in 2023.  That is not true.  Colorado voters did not make valuations and property taxes go up; Democrats did.

It was Democrats who put the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment on the ballot in 2020, which had helped control property tax rates.

A May 2023 article online by Denver 7 News asked a question in the headline and subhead: “Upset about soaring property taxes? The 2020 repeal of the Gallagher Amendment is partly to blame: A 45/55 split of the state's overall property tax between residential and non-residential property owners that was mandated by Gallagher is no more.”

Additionally, Democrats created Proposition HH for the 2023 election in such a way that it played games with the voters in an effort to get at the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds to make Democrat spending easier.  Voters figured out that song and dance and soundly defeated Prop HH on November 7.

Ignoring the voters, the Democrats produced bills in the special session to waltz around their HH defeat, not all of which Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed.

A report by KOA55 gave a rundown of the details after the session. According to Alasyn Zimmerman, the results included parts of Prop. HH that did not need voter approval.  For property owners, valuations will be reduced for this year by $55,000 instead of by $15,000.  However, property tax rates will go down only from 6.765% to 6.7%, and this reduction is only for the current year.  Governor Polis signed the bill.

According to an article on Colorado Politics by Ben Murrey of the Independence Institute, the special session property tax bill, SB23B-001, will result in a $710 property tax increase for a median Colorado homeowner.  That’s $60 more in taxes per month versus $85 more had the legislature done nothing.

“Overall, the bill provides less property tax relief than HH for 2023, as it included no relief for non-residential properties.  Businesses will pass on every cent of their tax increases to consumers. In other words, expect even more inflation.”

Pretending to hear the music from the voters, Gov. Polis had called for bipartisan solutions for the property tax problem.  That did not happen.  Colorado politics reported,

Every Republican-sponsored bill died in the early hours of the session’s first day. 

In a statement after the session concluded, House and Senate Republicans said the bill would not provide ‘honest’ property tax relief and called the main measure a remake of Proposition HH.

“Saving Coloradans money and reducing their tax burdens should have been the No. 1 priority for this special session,” said Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican from Brighton.  “Instead, it looks like the Democrats and Governor Polis used this as an opportunity to score some political points. Our bill was a real and honest solution that would have given the people of Colorado the tax relief they need.”

Results of the special session also included a bill to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit from 25% to 50%.  Gov. Polis signed this bill.

Murrey said, “The second bill, HB23B-1002, dips into TABOR refunds to pay for the expansion of a special-interest tax handout, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Taxpayers who qualify can get a check from the state, and that check comes out of everyone else’s refund. The bill will reduce overall refunds by just more than 10%.”

Legislators also passed SB23B-003 to restructure TABOR further.  Gov. Polis did not sign it.

According to Murrey,

Another bill, HB23B-1001, spends $30 million on “rental assistance,” an idea lifted directly from the now-defunct Prop HH and expanded by $10 million.

And a final bill, HB23B-003, creates a task force to come up with long-term property tax reform. Under the bill, the same politicians behind the grossly unpopular Proposition HH get to appoint most members of the task force.

Keep on dancing, Gov. Polis.  Coloradoans are pretty fed up with you Democrats.

C.S. Boddie writes for Meadowlark Press, LLC.

Image: pasja1000 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.