Colorado Dems offer TABOR-ending "help" with property taxes, and then an example of why you shouldn't trust the rhetoric of politicians like Polis. Lastly, the judiciary's role in our crime problem.
Polis' and the Democrats' plan to "help" with rising property taxes will do little to provide you relief and it will be the end of your rights under TABOR.
I can boil down the "scammed" issue Mr. Murrey talks about in the videos below pretty succinctly. There are only a few things to it.
--When we were presented with the repeal of the Gallagher Amendment, what was not made clear was that property taxes would go up even if rates did not. I.e. the Assembly's writing at the beginning of the referred measure to repeal Gallagher was technically accurate, but left out lots of important detail.
It was the legislative equivalent of the advertising on food that tells you there are only 90 Calories per serving of ice cream and you later find out that one serving of said ice cream is 2 Tablespoons. True, but misleading.
--Polis' and the Democrats' scheme to lower property taxes is taking money out of your wallet and putting it back in your pocket. Then smiling and telling you that they're looking out for you and trying to save you from the drastic increase that's coming.
--Lastly, and I cannot emphasize this enough, their scheme will essentially end TABOR and any refund you could hope to get. As Mr. Murrey has it in one of his tweet threads (see the attached screenshot), the bill allows the government to take your TABOR refunds from now til forever without asking you again. To see this visually look at the zoomed-in graph (see second screenshot) I attached. If this plan passes, the cap on the excess revenue that the government is allowed to keep, the money that they DO NOT have to refund to you, will grow and grow and grow faster than the rate at which TABOR normally allows. Look at how the curves diverge from each other--the upper curve is the escalating amount that the government can keep and its growing quite rapidly.
If you want or need more detail, a couple of excellent videos are linked below. If you're short on time, go to the second link.
Whether you choose to get more detail or not, I hope that you are as concerned as I am about this measure and that you share what you now know with others.
It will almost certainly pass the Assembly and be on the ballot. It is up to you and I, then, to share the bad news about this.
If you value your rights under TABOR, I urge you to join me in sharing information and speaking up.
The thing about career politicians--there's no gentle way to put it--the thing about career politicians is that they lie.
Their words are only so much air passing through their vocal chords.
Couple articles came out in rapid succession recently. One is about how the Democrats running things are not going to do their same scheme with TABOR refunds in the coming year that they did last time (they'll actually index the refunds to income so that those who paid more get more back instead of a flat rate for all regardless of how much you paid in). It's linked first below.
The second (linked second below) was about how Polis took gobs of special interest money to pay for his inaugural ball. Interestingly too, not just from Progressive organizations, see the partial list in the attached screenshot. This, despite a campaign promise to not take money from special interests (and to only take small dollar donations).
The articles are unrelated in many respects, but there is a thread linking them, however. That thread is Jared Polis the career politician.**
The thing about career politicians is that they lie. They say one thing, they mean God knows what, and they do what is politically expedient at any given moment regardless of either.
You see that in playing games with what TABOR refunds are and ought to be called, with how they should be handed out, and with what he says vs. what he does.
**My contention is that Jared Polis is and always has been more career politician and opportunist more than any other thing. Well, Progressive would be second I suppose.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/01/tabor-refund-checks-2024-colorado/
https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/05/01/jared-polis-special-interest-money-inauguration-2023
It's good to have the discussion about laws and policy regarding crime, but do not lose sight of the fact that a portion of the crime problem we have rests with the judiciary and the enforcement arms of our legal system.
I have posted more than once about the effect that judges allowing personal recognizance bonds for repeat and/or violent offenders can have on crime. Similarly, I have posted about judges being lenient for violent and/or repeat offenders.
I won't repeat those arguments here, but instead want to take up the idea of early release (again, esp with regard to violent and/or repeat offenders).
As Mr. Fields puts it in his op ed linked below bad people are out early only to reoffend. To see a particularly compelling part, take a look at the attached screenshot.
I'm not a supporter of tossing everyone away and throwing away the key; I believe in personal change and, to a lesser extent, the role of prison as an inducement to change one's thoughts and/or patterns of behavior.
Still, I think there are some behaviors that should signal to society that you have an individual who will need significant time for reflection prior to trying again. There are some crimes so bad that there should be few if any bonuses earned.
I'm, as I indicated above, not a huge believer in the idea that more time will fix them. Rather, I think the older people are the slower they go, and if someone's behind bars they're not pointing guns and robbing or sexually assaulting children.
Mr. Fields mentions an initiative to cut down on parole for certain violent offenses. He didn't offer any details and the only thing I could find on the Secretary of State's Initiative Tracker page was what you can see in screenshot #2. I'm not sure that it's the same, but it's the only one with the title set that mentions parole.
If I get an update on the initiative or more specifics I'll share. This is most assuredly one I want to support.
https://denvergazette.com/opinion/columns/guest-column-time-for-truth-in-sentencing-in-colorado-michael-fields/article_f4a1eca5-129e-5b62-90ff-f3b4df00b6fd.html