Jefferson County commissioners seem to have no love for our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), that’s evidenced by one of the commissioners, in his personal capacity, being the lead plaintiff on a (thankfully failed) lawsuit to overturn TABOR completely. 

Now we have the commissioners referring Issue 1A to the ballot, their second whack at our TABOR refunds. We just told them no in the 2019 election! 

Jeffco 1A specifically calls for removing over 60% of the county government revenue from TABOR caps. Of course, the ballot question isn’t that clear. Commissioners only gave an example of state grants, which nothing stops them from taking anyway. Plus this ballot issue goes far beyond that. We pay lots of different taxes and fees to government, just look at your car registration as one little example. 

To get to the point, the commissioners don’t want to refund our excess property tax collections in the future. If they remove all the other taxes and fees we pay to the county, plus the state grants they claim we can’t take, they effectively have eliminated the TABOR refund on property taxes in upcoming years.

The ballot wording says 1A won’t raise the tax rate or mill levy, but your home or business property valuation will likely go up in the future. When the valuation itself goes up, your property tax bill goes up. By removing 60% of the TABOR cap, you get to pay those higher property taxes without relief. You may not need property tax relief now, but will you in the future? 

1A is a tax hike. The ballot issue is required to be on the ballot because it is a tax increase. TABOR, which most government bodies despise, allows the government to grow at sufficient rate. The problem is that governments don’t like to have limits.

Jefferson County is one of 13 counties with the majority or all of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights still in force. TABOR helps keep your property taxes limited in Jeffco. Eliminating our TABOR protections is a mistake. 

Visit NoJeffcoTaxHike.com for information. 

Don’t fall for crafty and misleading ballot questions. Vote NO on Jefferson County 1A.

Natalie Menten, Lakewood

Campaign coordinator and registered agent for the No Jeffco Tax Hike committee