You have probably heard stories for years about waves of Californians moving to Colorado, a once-red state that has become one of the most “progressive” in the country. Locals call it “Calirado,” to express the influence of the new immigrants from the West Coast into their once laissez-faire mountain enclave.
Fiscally conservative legislatures and governors of Colorado’s earlier days imposed limits on the state’s ability to tax residents, mainly via the 1992 Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), which limits the state’s spending growth to the rate of its population growth plus inflation. For Colorado’s newly empowered progressive legislators, that simply isn’t enough. They want taxes a mile high.
Progressives in the legislature have tried twice already to overturn TABOR, and voters have shut them down both times. But new Californians are arriving in Colorado all the time, and legislators interested in raising taxes know that time is on their side. To help their cause, progressives have spread misinformation about TABOR, which Chris Atkins of the Tax Foundation ably debunks here. He concludes:
Contrary to the assertions of its opponents, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights has not decimated Colorado. In other measures of fiscal standing, not mentioned by the opponents of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Colorado compares very favorably to other states. Colorado’s per capita tax burden is the tenth lowest in the nation,43 ranks as the 8th friendliest business-tax climate (the highest ranking of any state with a sales tax and a corporate and personal income tax),44 and ranks as the state with the 2nd highest level of economic freedom.45 It is simply inaccurate to say that Colorado is a sub-standard state based on selectively cited statistics and national rankings, and even more inaccurate to blame the Taxpayer Bill of Rights for any perceived inadequacies.
Coloradans have often received refunds on their taxes when the state collects more than its limit. The Wall Street Journal’s editors explain that the legislature wants to keep that money and still claim no tax increase. They write:
Democrats say the measure would raise money for education without raising taxes. Huh? Eliminating taxpayers’ refund is an effective tax increase. Plus, the measure would embolden Democrats to raise taxes since they wouldn’t have to return the resulting revenue that exceeds the cap to taxpayers. They could keep and spend it.
The measure amounts to an income transfer from taxpayers to politicians and their government union allies. The extra spending cash wouldn’t be strictly earmarked for education, but the teachers’ union would benefit since the measure would require some of it to fund teacher raises and to hire more teachers.
Action Line: Many Coloradans skeptical of the new “Calirado” way of doing things are looking for a better America. If you are looking for a place where politicians treat residents as valued customers, not piggy banks from which to fund their radical agendas, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2026 Super States. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
