Ballot Breakdown: Amendment B, Prop 116 & 117

We’re highlighting what we see as two of the most important issues on this year’s ballot — Amendment B and Proposition 117 (again). They’re dropping in the mail today, so you should receive yours early next week at the latest. Keep reading for more information on both of these issues, plus a few things you can do to help! 

For a breakdown of the ballot issues we’re working on, check out our site.

Amendment B – Keep Property Taxes Low – Vote NO

There are some significant problems with Amendment B — It’s a property tax hike for everyone, it won’t help business, and it creates uncertainty for everyone in the future. Doing away with the Gallagher Amendment means removing a constitutional protection against skyrocketing property taxes, which will also be passed down to renters. We agree that there are major issues with the way Gallagher impacts rural communities and the high tax rate on business – but Amendment B doesn’t do anything to fix these problems. 

• If Gallagher is repealed, residential tax rates will be 7.15% next year instead of 5.88%, that’s a tax increase on everyone
• Amendment B freezes business tax rates at 29% with no plan for the future. We’re just supposed to trust the Legislature to lower these rates later!?
• Vote NO on Amendment B so that we can work together on a regional approach that works better for rural Colorado without increasing everyone’s taxes.

Proposition 117 – Vote on Fees – Vote YES!

Feel like you’re paying a heck of a lot more on “fees” decided on by unelected bureaucrats every year? You’re not imagining it, fees are growing 4x faster than our general fund revenue. Legislators are using fee-funded enterprises more and more as a way to get around asking voters for approval through our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Enterprises were originally exempted from TABOR for things like the lottery, state parks, and universities, which are all user-based and optional. But the abuse of the enterprise system has extended to FASTER car registration fees, and new fees on health insurance plans and overnight hospital stays. Many of us have to drive, and we all have to have health insurance, so these “fees” are no longer a choice. It’s a big loophole, and Proposition 117 is our way of making sure that at least the really massive new “fees” are brought to the people for a vote. 

• When you don’t get a choice, a “fee” feels a lot more like a tax
• Prop 117 applies to new fee-based enterprises that increase revenue by $100 million or more in the first five years
• Prop 117 won’t impact any existing enterprises, or any local enterprises

Prop 116 – Real Fair Tax

This ballot language is simple — it asks voters to lower the flat income tax rate from 4.63% to 4.55%. That’s a cut for everyone. Especially now during these uncertain times, people are excited about keeping even a little more of their hard earned money instead of sending it to politicians. 

• When people and companies are looking for a location, they’re attracted to states with low and stable tax policy
• We need only look to New York and California to see what a progressive tax structure does to a state