DENVER–Rumors have been rampant around a special Colorado legislative session and a deal to allow state government to keep excess revenue under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. But will that actually happen?
Two recent forecasts put the surplus revenue that the state must refund to taxpayers at between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion over the next three years, slightly more than 1 percent of the $95 to $100 billion in revenue the state will take in over the same time period.
Proposition CC–which already appears headed for trouble on the November ballot– would permanently eliminate tax refunds under TABOR, but wouldn’t go into effect until the 2020-21 fiscal year, leaving as much as $575 million in excess revenue to be refunded to taxpayers in early 2020. Thus the scramble for a special session and a TABOR deal that would both capture that revenue and pass muster at the ballot. Efforts by Governor Polis to gin up support among Republican leadership have hit a wall of resistance, as reported by Complete Colorado here.
Two long-time political consultants, Republican Dick Wadhams and Democrat Miller Hudson, recently sat down with host Jon Caldara on the public affairs television show Devil’s Advocate (airs Friday nights at 8:30 on Colorado Public Television) to hash out the possibility of a special session for a TABOR deal still being called. That video is below and well worth the time.
