Colorado TABOR Foundation

06/18/2026

Taxpayer's Bill of Rights ( ) or Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Both the federal and state attitudes assume that spending is the ...

Social Security will be insolvent by 2032 if no action is taken, with a significant impact on Colorado. Unfortunately, Colorado’s policymakers are likely to take away the wrong lessons from the problem. Colorado Impacts According to a report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, no ...

06/18/2026

Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) is one of the strongest enacted fiscal rules in the country, constraining taxation and spending.

State governments are using off-budget enterprises to increase spending and avoid fiscal accountability.

06/18/2026

No sooner had we urged support the other day for Initiative 232 — which safeguards and caps Colorado's simple, flat income tax — than a new ...

A proposal to move Colorado to a graduated income tax — taxing individuals and businesses at different rates based on their earnings — could generate more than $2 billion in its first year, but it could also weaken the state’s business climate and cause corporations to flee, according to a new...

06/18/2026

FYI, Colorado has a SPENDING problem, not a TABOR problem.
Quentin Young, the left, and the Bell Policy Center, hate TABOR as it puts a brake on their socialist spending plans.

But with the Taxpayer's Bill of Right's flaws becoming harder to ignore, efforts to skirt or reform it are building.

06/18/2026

Initiative 195 would replace Colorado's flat income tax with a progressive tax. This report analyzes the proposal's economic and fiscal effects.
How Would Initiative #195 Affect TABOR?
Approved by voters in 1992, the Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) strictly limits the amount of revenue state and local governments can collect, retain, and spend. It states that:

State and local governments cannot raise tax rates or create new taxes without direct approval from voters.
Annual government revenue growth is capped by a formula based on the rate of inflation plus the state’s population growth.
If the government collects more tax revenue in a fiscal year than the cap allows, the surplus must be refunded directly to Colorado taxpayers.
If the government collects more tax revenue in a fiscal year than the cap allows, the surplus must be refunded directly to Colorado taxpayers.[vii]

Because Initiative #195 would be a voter-approved tax increase, the new revenue it proposes to generate is exempt from TABOR limits. The state government would keep this additional revenue instead of returning it to taxpayers in years with revenue excesses, but TABOR refunds in those years would be unchanged.

Initiative 195 would replace Colorado’s flat income tax with a progressive tax. This report analyzes the proposal’s economic and fiscal effects.

06/17/2026

A proposal to move Colorado to a graduated income tax — taxing individuals and businesses at different rates based on their earnings — could generate more than $2 billion in its first year, but it may also weaken the state’s business climate, according to a new analysis from the Common Sense Institute.
https://tinyurl.com/2vvpann9

06/16/2026

06/16/2026

06/16/2026

Tax-limiting measure unique to state remains central to budget debates
As of March 2026, legislative staff estimate there will be a $1.1 billion TABOR surplus in the 2027 to 2028 fiscal year.

Colorado voters approved the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in 1992. The measure, unique to Colorado, is central to state budget debates.