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Colorado Marijuana Lawsuit Claims State Inflated Taxes Through Market Distortions
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Approved, Colorado Politics, State

Colorado Marijuana Lawsuit Claims State Inflated Taxes Through Market Distortions

By Christopher Osher | Colorado Politics Plaintiff says state owes over $100 million in refunds This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. The regulators of Colorado’s first-in-the-nation recreational marijuana market have allowed so many sham transactions in the industry to proliferate that honest cultivators and manufacturers shoulder an unfair excise tax burden, claims a lawsuit filed on Thursday that seeks class-action status. The lawsuit, filed by a large-scale marijuana cultivator in the state, claims the state owes millions of dollars in tax refunds. It alleges failures in enforcement by the Marijuana Enforcement Division have allowed “distortions” in how the state calculates the average market rate (AMR) for unprocessed marijuana tha...
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Gambling with taxpayer dollars: Colorado bill could allow nonprofits to get paid before work is done
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Approved, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary, State

Gambling with taxpayer dollars: Colorado bill could allow nonprofits to get paid before work is done

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project Gambling taxpayer money to bolster our nonprofit ecosystem. When you hire someone to do something for you, do you give them an advance? I’ve done it both ways: cash on delivery only and an upfront payment for, say, the materials. The bill linked at bottom makes some noteworthy changes to the way our state interacts with multiple nonprofits it pays to do its work. There are multiple directions you could go in with your speculation, but I think it’s reasonable to conclude overall that the bill bolsters the connection between our government and nonprofits, that it enriches the tightly-interconnected ecosystem of NGO’s and nonprofits in Colorado.** Under current law, prior to this bill, if a state awards a grant to a nonprofit for so...
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Colorado Voters To Decide Future Of TABOR Refunds In November
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Voters To Decide Future Of TABOR Refunds In November

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — For years, Democrats have been chipping away at Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds while looking for ways to permanently disable the more than 30-year-old constitutional amendment that, among other things, limits growth of a portion of the state budge to a formula of population growth plus inflation.  Revenue collected over that limit must be refunded to taxpayers unless voters consent to forgoing refunds at the ballot box. This year, however, they may have found the way. The late session introduction and passage of Senate Bill 135 sends a question to the voters in November essentially ending TABOR rebates.  Proponents are using using school children and teachers to tug at the heart strings of Coloradans ...
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Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Close 2026 Session With Greater Government Control And Higher Fiscal Risk

By Jake Fogleman | Complete Colorado The Colorado legislature officially adjourned May 13, after weighing more than 600 bills over the course of 120 days. Lawmakers entered the 2026 legislative session facing a set of familiar problems: another billion-dollar budget deficit, rising voter frustration over affordability, and growing concerns about Colorado’s economic competitiveness and business climate. Yet despite those warning signs, the Democrat-dominated legislature largely doubled down on the same governing philosophy that has increasingly defined the Capitol in recent years—more fees, more special interest tax benefits at the expense of other taxpayers, and more attempts to carve revenue streams out from under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). To be sure, not...
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Sharp Divides Emerge in Colorado Republican Governor Debate
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Sharp Divides Emerge in Colorado Republican Governor Debate

By Óscar Contreras | Denver7 Watch key moments and the full debate between State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and State Rep. Scott Bottoms. DENVER — Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidates State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and State Rep. Scott Bottoms took the stage Thursday evening in their first televised debate ahead of the June 30 primaries. Victor Marx, a third contender in the GOP gubernatorial race, was invited to participate in the debate but declined Denver7's invitation. Both candidates fielded questions before a live studio audience of a few dozen people as they tried to make the case as to why it was time for Coloradans to hand power back to Republicans this November after nearly 20 years of Democratic control in the state. It was the first major televised deba...
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A win for taxpayers: Colorado Senate committee kills employer fee bill
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

A win for taxpayers: Colorado Senate committee kills employer fee bill

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Per the Sum and Substance article linked first below, HB26-1327 (linked second) made it out of the House but died in committee in the Senate. Quoting: “Senate Finance Committee members voted down HB 1327 by a 7-2 margin on Thursday, with four Democrats joining the committee’s three Republicans in opposing it. Sen. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins, said she was for the idea before groups like CCLP convinced her of its faults, and Sen. Adrienne Benavidez, D-Adams County, joined with several Republicans in arguing that it would violate TABOR.” However it needed to be, I’m glad it didn’t pass. A look at the bill helps explain why in part. The bill would have been yet another enterprise run by yet another unelected boar...
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Colorado Ballot Measure Asks Voters To Forfeit Up To $7000 Per Taxpayer In TABOR Refunds
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The Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Ballot Measure Asks Voters To Forfeit Up To $7000 Per Taxpayer In TABOR Refunds

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Gazette A Democratic‑backed proposal to direct money to K‑12 schools using Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights dollars is headed to the ballot, setting up a major debate over taxpayer refunds and long‑term education funding. If voters approve it, the average Coloradan would forfeit more than $7,000 in TABOR refunds over the next decade. Senate Bill 135 includes a provision to increase the TABOR cap by the amount the state spends on K-12 education, which currently sits at about $4.5 billion per year. Under the proposal, any funding beyond that would be allocated to services for students with disabilities and increased contractor hours. “We have worked hard to better the quality of education in Colorado and have made great strides in m...
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Polis-Backed Bill Redirects $300 Million In TABOR Refunds To Close Budget Gap
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Polis-Backed Bill Redirects $300 Million In TABOR Refunds To Close Budget Gap

By Nash Herman | Complete Colorado One of Governor Polis’ key requests to balance the state budget using Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds passed out of the legislature and now awaits his signature.  House Bill 26-1419 will recoup almost $300 million in overcollected revenue that would otherwise be returned to Colorado taxpayers, if the measure can withstand legal challenges.  TABOR roulette As previously explained, from the first discussions of the governor’s TABOR refund recoupment proposal, legislative staff voiced their concerns to the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) about the measure’s legality.  While bill proponents remain adamant that the retroactive changes to tax collections caused by the passage of the federal One Big B...
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Colorado lawmakers say new insurance fees lower costs: Critics say families pay the bill
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado lawmakers say new insurance fees lower costs: Critics say families pay the bill

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Rising homeowners insurance rates have been a hot topic at the capitol this legislative session. I wrote about a couple bills to do so in late April. That newsletter is linked first below. It wasn’t too long after writing about this laser focus on homeowners insurance affordability by our legislature that I finally had a free minute to comparison shop on mine. The picture heading this post is from one of the quotes I got. While the legislators talk a great game about affordability, right there on the quote are two brand spanking new fees they imposed. Let’s look at what they are. The first is a $5.75 (yearly) fee assessed on my insurance: a Colorado FAIR Plan Recoupment Fee. This program — FAIR standin...
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Senate Democrats Advance Plan To Redirect Millions In TABOR Refunds
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Senate Democrats Advance Plan To Redirect Millions In TABOR Refunds

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Despite objections from legislative staff and Republican opposition, Senate Democrats on Friday moved forward with a proposal to reroute $306 million in taxpayer refunds. Already, critics are preparing to sue over the proposal that seeks to take $300 million in Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refunds over the next two years to cover what Democratic lawmakers believe is an overpayment from a previous fiscal year. House Bill 1419 won preliminary approval from the state Senate on Friday. It now awaits a final vote in the chamber and will then go back to the House, which must concur with any amendments adopted. The alleged overpayments in 2024–25 TABOR refunds were never reflected in the state’s 2024–25 budget because they stemmed ...
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