The fix is in to repeal Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights

The fix is in to repeal Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights

Back in 1992, the citizens of Colorado passed an amendment to the state constitution to limit tax increases. They called it the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR.

TABOR did not eliminate taxes, nor did it prohibit tax increases. Instead, it merely limited tax increases to the rate of inflation plus the population growth of the state.

Even those limits can be exceeded by a mere majority of the voters of the jurisdiction seeking to exceed it. If the voters of Colorado want to raise the state income tax rate, for example, they can do so with a simple majority vote in the next election. Likewise, if the citizens of a municipality want to raise the city sales tax, they can do so by a simple majority vote in the next election.
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Democrats have tried to repeal TABOR, have tried to challenge TABOR in court, and have tried various work-arounds, all unsuccessfully.

But Democrats might succeed with their latest challenge. The Democrat-controlled legislature is passing a resolution calling for the legislature as an entity to sue the state for a court declaration that TABOR is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The purported violation is that TABOR runs afoul of the Constitutional mandate that states be run by a “republican” form of government. That’s “republican” with a small “r.”

A “republican” form of government is one where the people elect representatives to pass laws, as distinguished from a direct “democracy” where the people themselves pass the laws. The Democrats contend that a system where people have the right to approve or disapprove tax increases by direct vote, is not a “republican” government, and therefore is in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Note the irony. The Democrats are suing on the grounds that the Constitution prohibits a democratic form of government and mandates instead a republican one.

Whatever the semantics, the Democrats have a lousy argument. But the fix is in.

You see, the plaintiff in this lawsuit will be the state legislature which, as mentioned, is controlled by Democrats. Fair enough.

But the defendant in the lawsuit will be the State of Colorado – which is also controlled by Democrats. In fact, the attorneys who will represent the state in a purported “defense” of TABOR are the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. That office is an elected position, and is currently held by a declared Democrat who ran as one.

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