Yesterday, we received a press release from conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado from which I’ve excerpted the following:
LEADING GROUPS THAT HAVE TAKEN OPPOSING SIDES ON PROPERTY TAX BALLOT MEASURES IN THE PAST, JOIN FORCES BEHIND A PROPERTY TAX RELIEF PLAN FOR ’24 BALLOT
Colorado Concern, the state’s largest association of CEOs which has partnered with Governor Polis on property tax measures before, joins forces with Advance Colorado, a conservative advocacy organization, to head off historic property tax spike.
The plan, which will appear on the 2024 ballot, would return property taxes to near-2022 levels, and cap property tax increases in the future.
Colorado Concern and Advance Colorado — two organizations that have taken opposing views on property tax issues like Proposition HH and the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment — are locking arms in support of a ballot measure that would provide real relief to Colorado’s homeowners and local businesses this November. Colorado Concern is the state’s largest association of CEOs which supported Prop. HH and the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment. Advance Colorado is the conservative advocacy group that opposed the repeal of Gallagher and Proposition HH.
The joint ballot measure, filed late Friday afternoon, would return property taxes paid by homeowners and businesses to near-2022 levels, and cap revenue from future property tax increases at 4%. Only a vote of the people would allow governments to collect more than 4% in new property tax revenue in a year, a mechanism that will protect homeowners from huge property value spikes like those experienced in Colorado recently.
The measure would help both homeowners and local businesses alike. 75% of the property tax relief in the ballot measure would go to residential and homeowner taxes, with the remaining 25% benefiting local businesses.
Said Dave Davia, the CEO of Colorado Concern: “Our ballot measure is balanced and thoughtful — we very intentionally protected funding increases for teachers, firefighters and other local districts, but we did so in a way that will end these crushing property tax increases once and for all. We’re going to build a broad-based campaign, and we fully expect the voters of Colorado to resoundingly support the plan in November…”
Said Davia, “The objective is balance — our teachers and firefighters need and deserve significant financial support, but the truth is we can do that without increasing property taxes on a local business or a homeowner by 30-40%…”
…The legislature would also have to provide additional funding to local districts over and above the 4% cap, thanks to the ballot measure’s backfill requirement…
As we might note, this press release describes the two groups, Colorado Concern and Advance Colorado, as having taken opposing sides on the controversial ballot measure Prop HH, which was rejected by Colorado voters last November.
These two “opposing sides” are supposedly “locking arms” on the new property tax measure.
Also yesterday, one of my favorite news sources, Colorado Newsline, published an article by reporter Chase Woodruff. Here are a few excerpts:
Conservative groups unite to back property tax cut on Colorado’s 2024 ballot
Months after Colorado lawmakers cut property tax rates in response to a sharp rise in home values across the state, two deep-pocketed conservative groups are joining forces behind a 2024 ballot measure that aims to slash rates further and put a cap on future increases.
In an announcement Monday, Colorado Concern, an influential business group governed by a board of Colorado-based corporate executives and wealthy Republican donors, said it would back a property tax measure closely resembling the one first proposed last year by Advance Colorado, a so-called “dark money” nonprofit that has spent millions in recent years to influence state elections but is not required to disclose its donors.
The measure would slash the residential assessment rate, a statewide figure used to calculate property taxes in different local jurisdictions, from 7.15% to 5.7%. For commercial and industrial property, the assessment rate would fall from 29% to 25.5%. The measure would also limit future increases in property tax revenue to less than 4% annually, requiring local governments to seek voter approval in order to retain any revenue in excess of that limit.
The result would be billions of dollars in lost revenue for local taxing districts, including cities, counties and school, fire and water districts…
Data from Colorado and other states show that lower revenues from property taxes and income taxes, which Colorado conservatives have also led successful efforts to slash in recent years, cause state and local governments to rely more heavily on sales taxes and fees to fund services — a so-called regressive tax structure, with low- and middle-income people paying higher overall tax rates than the rich…
Two different perspectives on the same proposal — similar to the two different perspectives leading up to the Prop HH vote.
Mr. Woodruff accurately notes that property tax relief will, of course, favor property owners, and that Colorado’s poorest resident are often renters rather than property owners.
I wonder about Mr. Woodruff’s description of Colorado Concern as a “conservative group”. Its membership includes numerous banks and corporations, but members also include El Pomar Foundation, University of Denver, Colorado State University, Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Craig Hospital, and Goodwill of Colorado. Yes, maybe a generally conservative group, but also something of a mixed bag. And they did work with Governor Polis to back Prop HH.
Advance Colorado, meanwhile, is clearly a conservative organization. From their website:
For too long, leaders have stood by while liberal special interest groups and politicians have turned Colorado into a testing ground for some of the most liberal policies and plans in the nation. It is time to return Colorado to a place where common sense leaders and policies play a prominent role in the direction of our state.
As Archuleta County Commissioner Ronnie Maez has been known to say, “Common sense isn’t that common, any more.”