In 2019, politicians referred a ballot measure to Colorado voters to permanently end TABOR tax refunds. Despite fluffy ballot language and a $5M campaign budget, the measure failed by a significant margin.

In 2022, these same politicians decided to shift course and rebrand our constitutionally protected TABOR tax refunds as the “Colorado Cash Back” — and send a $750 check to every taxpayer. It seemed like they finally caught on to the fact that TABOR is more popular than any elected official in the state.

That assumption was short-lived, however. This year, Coloradans were notified that their property taxes are about to skyrocket — with most families facing an increase of 30%-70%.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel once said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Taking this to heart, legislators at the Capitol decided to pass a bill in the last week of session that they claimed would address the property tax crisis. Instead, it’s just another attempt to keep and spend our TABOR tax refunds. They can’t do it, however, without the courts allowing their referred measure, Proposition HH, to be on the ballot — and voters deciding to approve it this November.

Prop HH is unconstitutional, plain and simple. The sponsors of this measure decided to attempt to skirt the laws and rules that average citizens must follow on ballot measures simply because they didn’t think anybody would try to stop them. That’s where Advance Colorado has come in. We’ve filed a lawsuit against the state regarding Prop HH, and I want to explain why:

First, Prop HH violates our state constitution’s “single subject” guidelines. Ballot measures, and bills passed by our legislature, are restricted to covering a single subject. This prevents deceptive tactics such as combining a popular idea with an unpopular one, which is precisely what Prop HH does. This unconstitutional “logroll” pairs a very slight property tax deduction (from 6.76% to 6.7%) with a gradual elimination of our TABOR tax refunds. In fact, it is projected that this measure would cost Colorado taxpayers $10 billion in TABOR tax refunds over the next decade. As you can imagine, reducing property taxes is popular. Eliminating TABOR refunds is not.

Even the measure’s sponsor, Representative Chris DeGruy Kennedy, admitted that the measure would “tackle several problems at the same time” in his final end-of-session legislative updates. The Colorado Constitution is clear on this in Article V, Section 21, stating that, “No bill, except general appropriation bills, shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title…” In total, Prop HH covers five subjects.

When our organization, and others, have brought ballot measures to the Colorado Title Board, that rule has been enforced without fail. But, rules for thee and not for me, says the legislature.

Secondly, Prop HH’s ballot language is deliberately misleading in its effect on property taxes and TABOR refunds. A clear example is that the measure fails to tell you by what percentage your property taxes will decline, which is a mere 0.06%. Precedent shows us that ballot measures that either increase or decrease tax rates always tell the voters by what exact percentage. Additionally, whenever the state wants to keep more of our TABOR tax refunds, the ballot language has always clearly indicated that the money would be retained beyond the current constitutional limits. Not so with Prop HH.

Thus far, 12 counties across Colorado have joined Advance Colorado’s lawsuit to strike Prop HH from the ballot or at least be significantly rewritten to provide clarity to voters.

El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Getiner said it well: “This bill is a sloppy bait and switch — a tiny tax decrease is the bait, but Coloradans will be worse off if they are tricked into giving up the TABOR refunds they are owed.”

We are optimistic that the courts will recognize this deviation from written law and precedent for what it is, but if not, the fight will continue past the courtroom and to the ballot box.

Let’s be clear, the Legislature can decrease property taxes without voter approval. At any point this year, the governor could call a special session and address this problem. The only reason Prop HH is going to voters is to take away our TABOR tax refunds. If Prop HH passes, Coloradans would still get almost $4 billion in increased property taxes. They would also have to give up billions of dollars in TABOR tax refunds.

That is a “deal” that Coloradans are smart enough to reject.

Michael Fields is the president of Advance Colorado Institute.

Michael Fields is the president of Advance Colorado Institute.