Governor Ritter and the Democrat controlled state legislature tried to pull a fast one on the citizens of Colorado with SB 199.  With their “freeze” of property tax rates, the elected leaders planned to skim $1.5 billion or so in just the next five years from Coloradans without asking for approval at the ballot box.  Republican officials and many enlightened citizens saw this for what it was – a violation of the TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) Amendment to the Colorado Constitution.  But, it took the commitment and perseverance of the Mesa County Board of Commissioners and the Independence Institute, lead by Jon Caldara, to sue the state and right the wrong.

With able legal representation from Alan Hale and Richard Westfall (see his feature article in the Policy Resource) the plaintiffs convinced Denver District Court Judge Christina Habas that “the legislature and governor ignored the state Constitution last year when they approved a law governing property taxes for schools,” as the Rocky Mountain News reported.

Maybe the poor reading skills that have afflicted Colorado’s public schools have permeated the leadership at the state capitol, because a simple reading of TABOR should have tipped off the Governor and legislative leadership that any “tax policy change directly causing a net tax revenue gain to any district” is prohibited without a vote of the people.  Judge Habas’s reading skills are apparently up to speed because she determined that “the direct impact of SB 199 was to change ‘tax policy,’” and ruled against the state. 

Now, the Democrats and Governor find themselves in an $118 million budgetary hole.  That’s the amount they plugged into the state budget during the recently completed session that Judge Habas says is illegal. Not to worry, according to the Governor’s office – they are appealing to the activist and democrat dominated Colorado Supreme Court.  Rather obviously, the Governor’s expectation is that the majority of the high court either shares in their same reading deficiency, or is willing to invent new law rather than interpret law as it already exists.    

The Democrats in control of the state government might not like the rules, but they ought to have to play by them.  Our Tip of the Hat for June goes to the Mesa County Commissioners and the Independence Institute for sticking up for the taxpayers – and sticking it to the Democrats.