Saving Seniors
Title: “Senior Health Care” and “Senior Tax Exemption”
Sponsor: Vote Yes on C & D
Type: Television ads
The message: Senior citizens in Colorado should support Referendums C and D to improve the health-care services they receive and to get a break on their property taxes.
Facts: Referendum C does not require improved funding for health-care programs for senior citizens.
The ballot measure lets the state keep money that would be refunded because of spending caps imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. About one-third of the money, or more than $1 billion, would be earmarked for health-care programs.
But the ballot measure does not say “health care for the elderly.” It says that money should be used “to fund health care.”
The state’s senior citizens are the among the heaviest users of medical services and are likely to benefit from increased funding.
In 2002, the state suspended for three years a recently created tax break on property taxes for senior citizens who lived in their houses for 10 years or more.
State budget experts estimate that suspending the “senior homestead exemption” saved the state $56.6 million. The ad says seniors lost $61 million, citing 2002 figures from the state’s Department of Local Affairs.
Passing Referendum C does not guarantee that the senior property tax exemption will be restored.
If C fails, Gov. Bill Owens estimates that the state will be forced to cut $300 million to $400 million in spending. Most officials say the state cannot afford to restore the exemption in that case.
– Staff writer Mark P. Couch
