As appeared in The Gazette

A constitutional amendment known as the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) passed overwhelmingly in 1992 and limits the amount of money government can spend. TABOR limits annual growth in state revenue to no more than inflation plus the annual percentage change in state population. Any excess taxes received must be returned to taxpayers. The legislature initially decided to return this surplus based on a percentage of the estimated sales taxes spent per taxpayer.

In 1999, the legislature decided it could "return" this over-taxation surplus to special interest groups and still be within the letter of the law, thereby denying the average taxpayer his/her portion of the surplus. Since then, the legislature has redirected the first $365M of the surplus (as of last fiscal year) for these special interest groups, leaving an
ever-shrinking amount for the average taxpayer.

We have good reason to question the constitutionality of this approach, as it clearly violates the spirit of TABOR. Voters thought they would get surplus tax money back when they passed TABOR in 1992. Instead, the TABOR surplus has become just another government spending program.

In the last four years alone, the General Assembly has enacted nineteen (19) separate refunds that tap into this surplus to give tax breaks to special interests. This policy has dramatically eroded the substance and purpose of TABOR, as well as the size of tax refunds received by Colorado citizens.

The latest effort to limit our refund is HB 1309. While the intention of this bill is to increase choice in education, it provides tax credits to individuals by diverting the TABOR surplus. The question we ask is, "Why do we keep addressing individual concerns by spreading the pain to everyone?"

It is, of course, easier for politicians to use dollars from over-taxation than to have to prioritize their spending. The legislature has done so nineteen times since 1999. This must stop if taxpayers are to ever see a tax refund again. Although offering children of low-income families greater educational opportunity may be a laudable goal, robbing the TABOR surplus is not the way to help.

The author of TABOR supports our interpretation. The clear language of the Constitution indicates that any change in the way tax surpluses are refunded to the people of Colorado should be referred to and approved by the voters. In light of the nineteen refund mechanisms already passed by the General Assembly, Rep. Schultheis has introduced a referendum in the legislature, HCR 1006, that, if referred to the people and passed by voters in November, will update TABOR language to prohibit future legislatures from further confiscating tax surpluses. We must ensure the people's tax surplus is protected from the all-consuming hand of government.