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One of Colorado government’s favorite games is to whine about TABOR, while actively subverting it through “fees.”
A report from the Common Sense Institute reveals that Colorado’s state spending exempt from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) has risen by nearly 30% since 1996.
TABOR limits the amount of revenue the state can retain each year, but exempts certain sources such as voter-approved changes, federal funds, and state enterprises. State enterprises — lottery, health insurance etc. — generate revenue through providing goods or services.
In 1996, 46% of Colorado’s total state spending (about $5,264 per resident) was “exempt from TABOR;” by fiscal year 2024, that share increased to 74%, amounting to just over $9,000 per resident.
Consider that for a moment. “Exempt from the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.”
Something is deeply wrong with that framing.
Colorado Politics broke this story, quoting the study authors Erik Gamm and Judah Weir, “‘The more that fee increases assume the character of tax increases, especially in the aftermath of Proposition 117, the more appropriate it becomes to characterize them as such,’ …adding that fee revenue growth is driving Colorado’s ‘tax burdens’ without giving citizens a say in the process.”
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