Colorado’s economy boomed during the past five years, rebounding quickly from the pandemic and causing state revenue to soar. But here’s the catch — thanks to the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), those funds couldn’t be fully tapped into. Even with a jaw-dropping $1.4 billion revenue surplus last year, the Joint Budget Committee and state lawmakers are now slashing public services by more than $1 billion — all because of TABOR’s outdated revenue cap. If state leaders don’t take meaningful action to reform TABOR this year, foundational programs, like schools, health care and public safety will not recover.
TABOR, a 33-year-old constitutional amendment, restricts state revenues to a growth limit based on inflation and the change in population each year. However, TABOR’s formula doesn’t reflect where our tax dollars actually go. Metrics such as consumer inflation and population growth fail to capture the increasing demand for essential services funded by our tax dollars, including health care for an aging population and new technologies for students in schools. Ultimately, our revenue cap does not align with the needs of our state.
TABOR is why Colorado continues to reduce funding for essential public institutions and programs voters have strongly supported, despite having budget surpluses every year. For example, in 2020 and 2022, voters directed the state to offer at least 10 hours of free preschool per week through Proposition EE and universal school meals through Proposition FF. Both initiatives were designed to lower costs for families with children in our increasingly unaffordable state. But ironically, their success is now working against them. The more children are enrolled, the more costs climb — well beyond what voters approved back in 2020 and 2022. And though fully funding these wildly popular programs would cost just a tiny fraction of the surpluses we’ve seen in recent years, lawmakers can’t use that extra money because of TABOR…