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Guest Columnist – Proposition HH is a Bad Deal; Vote NO

Proposition HH is a Bad Deal; Vote NO La Propuesta HH es un mal negocio, Vota NO

(Photo/ Courtesy Colorado House Republican)

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Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Rose Pugliese

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Proposition HH is being sold as property tax relief but in reality is just a tax hike funded by your TABOR refund. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights, TABOR, only requires voter approval to raise taxes; voter approval is not needed to lower your taxes. Politicians are free to lower your taxes at any time without your approval.

So why are you being asked to oppose Proposition HH? Because Colorado voters have proven time after time that TABOR is not up for grabs. Proposition CC was the most recent example. In 2019, this ballot measure was another misleading attempt to get rid of your TABOR refund that failed at the ballot box.

Proposition HH was born of law-making in the 2023 legislative session which occurred in the Governor’s office rather than in the State House and Senate where Representatives of the people debate legislation. Colorado residents should not be penalized for the Democrats’ lack of willingness to work together to provide a real solution for clean property tax relief.

Proposition HH allows the state to increase taxes in order to offset the estimated 40% increase in property assessments throughout the state and spend an additional $9 billion using your dwindling TABOR refund. In other words, most Coloradans will end up paying more throughout the next 10 years, not less.

Proposition HH is a Bad Deal; Vote NO

Renters make up 33 per cent of all Colorado households; they will be giving up the most in the exchange. Over the next 10 years, an estimated $5,119 in TABOR refunds will have been lost to make up for the property tax “relief” for almost 800,000 residents. The “property tax relief” supporters of Prop HH advertise a pathetic 0.06% reduction in the residential assessment rate.

Proposition HH is a Bad Deal; Vote NO

If “property tax relief” was the objective, state lawmakers and the Governor could have accomplished that goal without a vote of the people. They need your vote because they want to do much more than property tax relief; they need your vote to change our popular Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) to have significantly increased access to state tax dollars.

TABOR will become a distant memory by the year 2040, when (without voter approval) legislators will most likely decide to extend this measure, creating a $21 billion net tax increase. We anticipate voters will see through these political games, and reject this backdoor tax increase.

We continue to insist that Governor Polis call for a special session to bring the appropriate stakeholders and local governments to the table to offer clean tax relief to Coloradans.