On Wednesday, the Secretary of State’s title board will review another attempt at a graduated income tax ballot measure for the 2026 general election.

In October, the title board rejected two proposals submitted by the Bell Policy Center because they did not fit the state’s single-subject rule. A third was withdrawn.

The two ballot proposals, as well as the one to be reviewed on Wednesday, would change the state’s flat income tax rate — in which everyone currently pays the same rate of 4.41% — to a graduated income tax, where people with incomes of up to $500,000 would get a small tax cut. Those who earn more would see an increase.

The proposal contains a dozen tax brackets, with the highest levels set to accrue up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional liabilities, while cutting them for individuals at the lower end of the proposed spectrum.

How it would affect individuals depends on their annual household or business income.

At the lower end, people could see their taxes cut by a few hundred dollars. At the highest end, $10 million or above, individuals and businesses could pay hundreds of thousands more each year.

The title board is a three-person panel that includes a representative from the attorney general’s office, another from the secretary of state’s office, and the head of the General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Legal Services or the latter’s designee.

Its primary role is to determine whether a ballot measure meets the state’s single-subject requirement and whether the final ballot language does what it says it does.

One of the objections raised by the title board in October, as well as by opponents of the measures, was the removal of surcharge language in TABOR, known as Article 20 of the state Constitution.

Article 20 says, “Any income tax law change after July 1, 1992, requires all taxable net income to be taxed at one rate, excluding refund tax credits or voter-approved tax credits, with no added tax or surcharge.”

Both ballot measure proposals would have removed the entire sentence; the title board found that it was a single-subject violation and rejected both proposals unanimously.

The latest submission by the Bell Policy Center now says, “ Any income tax law change after July 1, 1992, shall also require all taxable net income to be taxed at one rate, excluding refund tax credits or voter-approved tax credits, with no added tax or surcharge. 

A “draft variation chart” submitted to the Secretary of State notes the change, as well as the inclusion of an audit report on how the excess revenue would be used.

The proposal says excess revenue – one estimate from the Bell pegs that at about $2.3 billion annually – would go for public education, including increasing teacher pay; replacing lost Medicaid funding from the federal government, and for childcare and workforce development.

Ballot proposal #181, as it’s now known, is the only measure up for review in Wednesday’s title board hearing, which starts at 9 a.m.

One measure that won’t be on the title board: Proposal #186, the most recent proposal submitted to the Legislative Council. It was withdrawn before a review and comment hearing, the first step for all ballot measures.

Proposal #186 would require Colorado to secede from the Union and become an independent nation, with the Colorado Constitution as the supreme law of the land.

The measure, which is 35 pages, says Colorado should secede because President Trump was ineligible to serve as president because the 14th Amendment bars anyone who engaged in insurrection from holding public office, and he “tried to overthrow the government with the January 6th Capitol Riot.”

The ballot measure claims Colorado has the right to secede under the 10th Amendment.

It also states that anyone can apply for citizenship, including those seeking asylum from oppression.

Colorado would take over any programs run by the United States as of Jan. 19, 2025. Tariffs levied against Colorado would allow the General Assembly to impose similar tariffs against that country, the proposal says.

The governor’s authority would include the ability to appoint ambassadors and make treaties. 

The ballot measure also says Colorado would recognize all nations recognized by the United Nations, except for the United States, unless the General Assembly says otherwise.

In 2013, 11 mostly northeastern counties voted on whether to secede from Colorado, with five approving the measure.

One proponent, Emerson Sturgis of Lyons, is a climate activist who has been advocating for Colorado’s secession since just after last November’s election. 

Lynn Segal of Boulder, the other listed proponent, was among the people marching on the Pearl Street Mall in June, calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, when a man, using a flamethrower and tossing an incendiary device, attacked, shouting “free Palestine.” Six people were injured. Segal was not among those wounded.