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First of all...what is TABOR?
So...what is this challenge to TABOR all about?
The citizens of Colorado already have the constitutional right to recall any legislators who do things they don't like, but in the case of taxes I think more restrictions on legislators are needed. TABOR provides those restrictions. With TABOR, legislators...at all levels...are NOT able to raise taxes without the citizen's approval. This gives the power over their pocketbooks back to the citizens. TABOR has been in effect almost 30 years and has worked very well.
I hope the courts don't screw things up.
The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (abbreviated TABOR) is a concept advocated by conservative and free market libertarian groups, primarily in the United States, as a way of limiting the growth of government. It is not a charter of rights but a provision requiring that increases in overall tax revenue be tied to inflation and population increases unless larger increases are approved by referendum.
In 1992, the voters of the state approved a measure which amended Article X of the Colorado Constitution that restricts revenues for all levels of government (state, local, and schools).[2] Under TABOR, state and local governments cannot raise tax rates without voter approval and cannot spend revenues collected under existing tax rates without voter approval if revenues grow faster than the rate of inflation and population growth.[2] Revenue in excess of the TABOR limit, commonly referred to as the "TABOR surplus", must be refunded to taxpayers, unless voters approve a revenue change as an offset in a referendum.[3] Under TABOR, the state has returned more than $2 billion to taxpayers.
Taxpayer Bill of Rights - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
So...what is this challenge to TABOR all about?
Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is under attack once again, this time by the very politicians whose actions TABOR is intended to check.
A lawsuit filed by state legislators and some local elected officials has been wending its way through the federal courts since 2011. They seek to overturn the voter-enacted TABOR amendment to the Colorado constitution, which requires voter approval before state and local legislative bodies can impose or raise taxes.
The lawmakers’ case rests on the dubious idea that by denying legislators a free hand on matters of taxing and spending, TABOR denies Coloradans a republican form of government, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The case will now be heard by the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, although it seems likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually get the final word.
It’s a complicated case involving questions of standing — who has the right to bring a case to court — and whether constitutional guarantees of a republican form of government include the actions of political subdivisions such as school boards.
While the legal questions are complicated, the principle at stake is simple. Colorado taxpayers have voted repeatedly in support of TABOR. The politicians are asking a federal court to reverse those votes because they checked the excesses of those politicians.
That’s the opposite of a republican form of government.
Read more here: https://coloradosun.com/2021/01/24/tabor-lawsuit-opinion/
The citizens of Colorado already have the constitutional right to recall any legislators who do things they don't like, but in the case of taxes I think more restrictions on legislators are needed. TABOR provides those restrictions. With TABOR, legislators...at all levels...are NOT able to raise taxes without the citizen's approval. This gives the power over their pocketbooks back to the citizens. TABOR has been in effect almost 30 years and has worked very well.
I hope the courts don't screw things up.