WILL ADVANCE COLORADO PULL THEIR PROPERTY TAX BALLOT MEASURES? We talked yesterday about the Governor being very afraid that we would vote to lower our property taxes on November's ballot so he is scheduling a Special Session that last week of August. Why then? Because if Advance Colorado, who is running the ballot measures, is going to pull them it needs to be before September 6th, which is the deadline to pull it. I've got Advance Colorado's Kristi Burton Brown on today at 12:30 to discuss what has to happen for them to take them off the ballot, but here it is in its entirety:
Key Points About the Property Tax Bill in the Special SessionBackground• Polling shows one of the most concerning issues to Colorado voters this year is property taxes.• Property taxes rose by 30%, on average, across the state last year.• Homeowners have expressed they cannot afford another spike. They want a guaranteed permanent property tax cut and cap.• Under current law, homeowners will see another property tax increase next year.• Advance Colorado sponsored two ballot measures – Initiatives 50 and 108 – to permanently cut and cap property taxes.Lead Up to a Special SessionThe threat of Advance’s ballot measures pushed the legislature and Gov. Polis to pass a bill during the 2024 legislative session that created nearly $1B in annual property tax savings. However, at that time, the Democrat legislators refused to take a deal that would have increased the savings to $1.6B and cap the full property tax bill.Now that 50 is on the ballot and 108 turned in sufficient signatures to be on the ballot in November, the legislature and Gov. Polis came back to the table and have agreed to pass a bill that permanently cuts and caps property taxes.The Special Session BillThe agreement: the legislature will pass and the Governor will sign a bipartisan bill guaranteeing permanent property tax relief in the form of a cut and a cap. These cuts and caps would be locked in by TABOR and could not be changed without a vote of the people. Specifically, the bill will: Cut the effective residential property tax rate to 6.3 or 6.4% depending on assessment growth; (It’s currently set to go up to 6.7% next year.) Cut the commercial property tax rate to 25%; (It’s currently at 29%.) Install a property tax cap of 5.25% for local governments and 6% or inflation growth cap for school districts. (The legislative session bill instituted a 5.5% cap for local governments and had *no* cap for school districts.)The bill also requires a key component from Initiative 50 – “TABOR for property taxes.” If a local government wants to opt out of the property tax cap, it will have to go to a vote of the people. Clear and non-biased language in the ballot question is required by the bill.In exchange for Colorado putting a permanent property tax cut and cap in law – that ensures property taxes do not go up again next year and cannot spike again the future – Advance Colorado will take 50 and 108 off the ballot, locking in a guaranteed property tax win for homeowners and businesses.
Key Points About the Property Tax Bill in the Special SessionBackground• Polling shows one of the most concerning issues to Colorado voters this year is property taxes.• Property taxes rose by 30%, on average, across the state last year.• Homeowners have expressed they cannot afford another spike. They want a guaranteed permanent property tax cut and cap.• Under current law, homeowners will see another property tax increase next year.• Advance Colorado sponsored two ballot measures – Initiatives 50 and 108 – to permanently cut and cap property taxes.Lead Up to a Special SessionThe threat of Advance’s ballot measures pushed the legislature and Gov. Polis to pass a bill during the 2024 legislative session that created nearly $1B in annual property tax savings. However, at that time, the Democrat legislators refused to take a deal that would have increased the savings to $1.6B and cap the full property tax bill.Now that 50 is on the ballot and 108 turned in sufficient signatures to be on the ballot in November, the legislature and Gov. Polis came back to the table and have agreed to pass a bill that permanently cuts and caps property taxes.The Special Session BillThe agreement: the legislature will pass and the Governor will sign a bipartisan bill guaranteeing permanent property tax relief in the form of a cut and a cap. These cuts and caps would be locked in by TABOR and could not be changed without a vote of the people. Specifically, the bill will: Cut the effective residential property tax rate to 6.3 or 6.4% depending on assessment growth; (It’s currently set to go up to 6.7% next year.) Cut the commercial property tax rate to 25%; (It’s currently at 29%.) Install a property tax cap of 5.25% for local governments and 6% or inflation growth cap for school districts. (The legislative session bill instituted a 5.5% cap for local governments and had *no* cap for school districts.)The bill also requires a key component from Initiative 50 – “TABOR for property taxes.” If a local government wants to opt out of the property tax cap, it will have to go to a vote of the people. Clear and non-biased language in the ballot question is required by the bill.In exchange for Colorado putting a permanent property tax cut and cap in law – that ensures property taxes do not go up again next year and cannot spike again the future – Advance Colorado will take 50 and 108 off the ballot, locking in a guaranteed property tax win for homeowners and businesses.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Special session on property taxes at the end of this month,
and the organization that actually made that possible and force
the issue is Advanced Colorado. They have multiple ballot initiatives
on the ballot this fall that would have allowed us
to vote our property taxes back. So Christy Burton Brown
and Christy I explained this on the show earlier. So
(00:21):
often I call you Kelly Burton Brown because I went
to school kindergarten through twelfth grade with a Kelly Burton.
So whenever I say Burton, I just think Kelly. So
I apologize if you ever hear it. It's just me
associating with my childhood, that's all. And you kind of
look like her a little bit too, so it's just weird. Anyway.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That's funny. Actually random story. When I was young and
I thought I wanted to be a spy, I was like,
the name I was going to picture myself was Kelly.
So you're on, I got your spy name.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Well, you're not a spy. You're part of Advanced Colorado,
a great, great policy think tank and organization that is
pushing policy issues in Colorado that are conservative in the
sense that they are physically conservative. And that's what these
property tax initiatives are about. So are the what is
this compromise we're hearing Governor Polis talk about. Tell me
(01:13):
about that.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, well, and I call it a deal. This is
a deal that we've you know, got them back to
the table to make for the people of Colorado. As
you know, property taxes have been a huge issue, at
a crisis point for years in Colorado, especially with the
thirty percent spike across the state last year, and so
you know, the attempt to solve it in the regular
session didn't go far enough. We brought these ballot measures
(01:39):
to give people real relief, a cut in the cap
on their property taxes that stop spikes in the future
as well. Well, you know, the Democrats, the governor are
very afraid of these measures, and so it's brought them
back to the table where now they're saying, Okay, if
we agree to give people a real cut in a
real cap, will you guys pull these measures off the ballot.
And so that is where where we're at now. We've
(01:59):
reaching a great for this special session.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
What are the changes between the two Are the differences
between the two.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Sure? And what they are is what it would result
in if they pass. This deal is a one point
six billion dollars annual tax cut for the people of Colorado.
We would have put in our initiative a four percent
statewide cap on property taxes. This deal would be a
five point twenty five percent cap on local governments, a
six percent or inflation cap on school districts. That piece,
(02:28):
by itself is actually one of the biggest wins because
the legislation passed Sentu BIL two thirty three in the
regular session completely left school districts uncapped. That's a significant
portion of people's property tax bill. There's also a cut
in this. It would take the property tax rate down
from six point seven percent, which is what is supposed
to be next year, to six point three or six
(02:49):
point four percent, and then also commercial cut it down
from twenty nine to twenty five. There's another piece of
it that's ballot language and basically creates tabor for property taxes.
If any local district wants to opt out of the cap,
they have to have honest ballot language that tells people
they would be repealing a property tax cap. That is
(03:09):
a huge win. That was a piece of our Initiative
fifty that would be in this legislation.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Someone just said, let the voters decide. Why do we
have to cave? Why why you strike a deal? Sure,
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Define it as caving. I think you know, we are
the group out there that is fighting to cut in
cap property taxes for people. You know, we've spent our
own money doing this, advanced Colorado's money, bringing this before voters.
And you can either you know, gamble all the way
to the ballot and say, hey, we would have a
giant win if we win on the ballot. If we lose,
(03:43):
you get nothing. You have to realize that, well, you know,
the Yes campaign is going to be spending millions of dollars,
so is the no campaign impign But you also have
the option of a guaranteed win, right, and we're going
with the guaranteed win for people.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
People don't understand the interest groups that would be against this.
The teachers unions are the first ones that we'll be
spending so much money to defeat these ballot initiatives. I mean,
local governments hate this because small, outlying and rural areas
wanted more flexibility with their their property tax number. This
compromise seems to address that and give them a little
(04:17):
more flexibility, and not to mention you guys, Colorado, this
is not a sure thing in Colorado anymore. It really
isn't like maybe twenty years ago this kind of property
tax cut, you'd be no brainer, right, But in today's
Colorado and the right messaging from the other side, this
is not a sure thing at all.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And mean, I think that's a good point. And people
miss too that the legislature has really missed the ballot language.
Matt messed with it over the last couple of years.
They've required tax cut measures to use a language on
the ballot that kind of tricks people into wondering if
it's really a cut in the cap Sucually, the biggest
issue with measures like this is what people think they
are from the ballot language versus campaigning to tell them
what they really are, right, And so that's another And
(05:00):
conservatives we often talk in our own echo chambers. We're
listening to people who absolutely know what these are. They
want to cut in cap property taxes. There are many
more voters out there, especially in a presidential year, and
we can guarantee a win with two thirds of what
we want right, guarantee that people are going to have
a cut in a cap protected by taper. We're going
to go for that now. And you know, if the
(05:21):
Democrats don't uphold their end of the deal and they
do some funny business during special session, we will continue
to bring these to the ballot and we'll go that way.
And we do think we can bring to people with us.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So here's the best part of this. The best part
of this is that you guys, through putting some pretty
severe restrictions on the ballot, you absolutely are forcing the
hands of the legislature if they want anything, you know,
if they want to keep which I think are very
reasonable terms in this compromise, they'd be idiots to turn
(05:52):
this down, is what I'm trying to say. I mean,
this would just be stupid to walk away from this
when you have it all laid out, because the alternative
is there could be some real chaos in rural areas.
There are downsides to the kind of caps that are
on the ballot initiative, and so I don't know. I
think that this person said, Mandy, why can't we drop
residential to six percent? Why did you guys choose six
(06:13):
point four or six point three? Where do those numbers
come from?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So that's the combent. Well okay, so yeah, that's the cut.
And I think you could always say why don't you
do more? Why don't you do more? And it's a
great question. We'd love to cut in cap property taxes
as much as possible, but with a six point three
to six point four that is a drop from what
it was supposed to be. It was originally supposed to
go up to seven point one percent. Next year with
two thirty three, he is going to go up to
(06:38):
six point seven. So we're taking it down to six
point three or six point four. And you do when
you're when you're negotiating a deal, you have to agree
on something that's going to be workable, and that is
what was reached. The cap is lower, though, and I
think that's what people need to know. I think the
cap is the cap is important on local government.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, it's important. App for me is the big deal
because we're seeing people. I mean, there are older people
that live in my neighborhood that have been in their
homes for thirty five forty years. They're really getting crushed
by property taxes now. I mean it's really hurting them.
And so it's that for me when you have a
little more certainty going forward. That is a big part
of this for me, and I hope it works out
(07:21):
because I'd love for Advanced Colorado to not have to
spend a bunch of money getting this over the finish line,
you know what I'm saying, Like, I would love you
guys to be able to move on to the next thing.
I know you have other ballot initiatives on the ballot
as well. It's like, if we can get a better
deal for the taxpayers, get a cap on future increases,
and not have to spend a bunch of money that
you can then direct in another way, I'm all for.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It absolutely well. And I think for the first organization
in Colorado to have five measures on a ballot, and
they're all conservative issues and some of them actually bring
in leaders from across the spectrum, like truth and sentencing
more funny for law enforcement, and the right to school
choice on the bat. That's all we have in addition
to property tasks, is there's still a lot for voters
(08:04):
to get out and vote for, be excited about an
influent policy the legislature refuses to do that's very popular
with the people.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And that school choice bit we're going to talk about that,
because that has to happen. We have to maintain Colorado's
robust school choice programs. We're done, I mean, we're just done.
Christy Burton Brown. I so appreciate you making time today
from Advanced Colorado. And we'll talk again in the very
near future about those other ballot initiatives, or maybe we
can catch up after the special session and see how
(08:32):
things win.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Thanks Mandy so much.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
All Right, thank you. That is Christy Burton Brown with
Advanced Colorado.
Special session on property taxes at the end of this month,
and the organization that actually made that possible and force
the issue is Advanced Colorado. They have multiple ballot initiatives
on the ballot this fall that would have allowed us
to vote our property taxes back. So Christy Burton Brown
and Christy I explained this on the show earlier. So
(00:21):
often I call you Kelly Burton Brown because I went
to school kindergarten through twelfth grade with a Kelly Burton.
So whenever I say Burton, I just think Kelly. So
I apologize if you ever hear it. It's just me
associating with my childhood, that's all. And you kind of
look like her a little bit too, so it's just weird. Anyway.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That's funny. Actually random story. When I was young and
I thought I wanted to be a spy, I was like,
the name I was going to picture myself was Kelly.
So you're on, I got your spy name.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Well, you're not a spy. You're part of Advanced Colorado,
a great, great policy think tank and organization that is
pushing policy issues in Colorado that are conservative in the
sense that they are physically conservative. And that's what these
property tax initiatives are about. So are the what is
this compromise we're hearing Governor Polis talk about. Tell me
(01:13):
about that.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, well, and I call it a deal. This is
a deal that we've you know, got them back to
the table to make for the people of Colorado. As
you know, property taxes have been a huge issue, at
a crisis point for years in Colorado, especially with the
thirty percent spike across the state last year, and so
you know, the attempt to solve it in the regular
session didn't go far enough. We brought these ballot measures
(01:39):
to give people real relief, a cut in the cap
on their property taxes that stop spikes in the future
as well. Well, you know, the Democrats, the governor are
very afraid of these measures, and so it's brought them
back to the table where now they're saying, Okay, if
we agree to give people a real cut in a
real cap, will you guys pull these measures off the ballot.
And so that is where where we're at now. We've
(01:59):
reaching a great for this special session.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
What are the changes between the two Are the differences
between the two.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Sure? And what they are is what it would result
in if they pass. This deal is a one point
six billion dollars annual tax cut for the people of Colorado.
We would have put in our initiative a four percent
statewide cap on property taxes. This deal would be a
five point twenty five percent cap on local governments, a
six percent or inflation cap on school districts. That piece,
(02:28):
by itself is actually one of the biggest wins because
the legislation passed Sentu BIL two thirty three in the
regular session completely left school districts uncapped. That's a significant
portion of people's property tax bill. There's also a cut
in this. It would take the property tax rate down
from six point seven percent, which is what is supposed
to be next year, to six point three or six
(02:49):
point four percent, and then also commercial cut it down
from twenty nine to twenty five. There's another piece of
it that's ballot language and basically creates tabor for property taxes.
If any local district wants to opt out of the cap,
they have to have honest ballot language that tells people
they would be repealing a property tax cap. That is
(03:09):
a huge win. That was a piece of our Initiative
fifty that would be in this legislation.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Someone just said, let the voters decide. Why do we
have to cave? Why why you strike a deal? Sure,
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Define it as caving. I think you know, we are
the group out there that is fighting to cut in
cap property taxes for people. You know, we've spent our
own money doing this, advanced Colorado's money, bringing this before voters.
And you can either you know, gamble all the way
to the ballot and say, hey, we would have a
giant win if we win on the ballot. If we lose,
(03:43):
you get nothing. You have to realize that, well, you know,
the Yes campaign is going to be spending millions of dollars,
so is the no campaign impign But you also have
the option of a guaranteed win, right, and we're going
with the guaranteed win for people.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
People don't understand the interest groups that would be against this.
The teachers unions are the first ones that we'll be
spending so much money to defeat these ballot initiatives. I mean,
local governments hate this because small, outlying and rural areas
wanted more flexibility with their their property tax number. This
compromise seems to address that and give them a little
(04:17):
more flexibility, and not to mention you guys, Colorado, this
is not a sure thing in Colorado anymore. It really
isn't like maybe twenty years ago this kind of property
tax cut, you'd be no brainer, right, But in today's
Colorado and the right messaging from the other side, this
is not a sure thing at all.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And mean, I think that's a good point. And people
miss too that the legislature has really missed the ballot language.
Matt messed with it over the last couple of years.
They've required tax cut measures to use a language on
the ballot that kind of tricks people into wondering if
it's really a cut in the cap Sucually, the biggest
issue with measures like this is what people think they
are from the ballot language versus campaigning to tell them
what they really are, right, And so that's another And
(05:00):
conservatives we often talk in our own echo chambers. We're
listening to people who absolutely know what these are. They
want to cut in cap property taxes. There are many
more voters out there, especially in a presidential year, and
we can guarantee a win with two thirds of what
we want right, guarantee that people are going to have
a cut in a cap protected by taper. We're going
to go for that now. And you know, if the
(05:21):
Democrats don't uphold their end of the deal and they
do some funny business during special session, we will continue
to bring these to the ballot and we'll go that way.
And we do think we can bring to people with us.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So here's the best part of this. The best part
of this is that you guys, through putting some pretty
severe restrictions on the ballot, you absolutely are forcing the
hands of the legislature if they want anything, you know,
if they want to keep which I think are very
reasonable terms in this compromise, they'd be idiots to turn
(05:52):
this down, is what I'm trying to say. I mean,
this would just be stupid to walk away from this
when you have it all laid out, because the alternative
is there could be some real chaos in rural areas.
There are downsides to the kind of caps that are
on the ballot initiative, and so I don't know. I
think that this person said, Mandy, why can't we drop
residential to six percent? Why did you guys choose six
(06:13):
point four or six point three? Where do those numbers
come from?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So that's the combent. Well okay, so yeah, that's the cut.
And I think you could always say why don't you
do more? Why don't you do more? And it's a
great question. We'd love to cut in cap property taxes
as much as possible, but with a six point three
to six point four that is a drop from what
it was supposed to be. It was originally supposed to
go up to seven point one percent. Next year with
two thirty three, he is going to go up to
(06:38):
six point seven. So we're taking it down to six
point three or six point four. And you do when
you're when you're negotiating a deal, you have to agree
on something that's going to be workable, and that is
what was reached. The cap is lower, though, and I
think that's what people need to know. I think the
cap is the cap is important on local government.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, it's important. App for me is the big deal
because we're seeing people. I mean, there are older people
that live in my neighborhood that have been in their
homes for thirty five forty years. They're really getting crushed
by property taxes now. I mean it's really hurting them.
And so it's that for me when you have a
little more certainty going forward. That is a big part
of this for me, and I hope it works out
(07:21):
because I'd love for Advanced Colorado to not have to
spend a bunch of money getting this over the finish line,
you know what I'm saying, Like, I would love you
guys to be able to move on to the next thing.
I know you have other ballot initiatives on the ballot
as well. It's like, if we can get a better
deal for the taxpayers, get a cap on future increases,
and not have to spend a bunch of money that
you can then direct in another way, I'm all for.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It absolutely well. And I think for the first organization
in Colorado to have five measures on a ballot, and
they're all conservative issues and some of them actually bring
in leaders from across the spectrum, like truth and sentencing
more funny for law enforcement, and the right to school
choice on the bat. That's all we have in addition
to property tasks, is there's still a lot for voters
(08:04):
to get out and vote for, be excited about an
influent policy the legislature refuses to do that's very popular
with the people.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
And that school choice bit we're going to talk about that,
because that has to happen. We have to maintain Colorado's
robust school choice programs. We're done, I mean, we're just done.
Christy Burton Brown. I so appreciate you making time today
from Advanced Colorado. And we'll talk again in the very
near future about those other ballot initiatives, or maybe we
can catch up after the special session and see how
(08:32):
things win.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Thanks Mandy so much.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
All Right, thank you. That is Christy Burton Brown with
Advanced Colorado.
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.