By now, most Coloradans have seen one too many TV ads about Referendums C and D, the centerpiece issues of the Nov. 1 election.
We wanted to address some questions that have been fogged over during the course of the TV barrage.
Question: There is a great deal of money involved in these measures – $3.7 billion over five years. How do we know the money will be spent wisely?
Answer: Legislators weren’t taking anything for granted. They passed House Bill 1350 this spring, earmarking the money from the referendums for schools, transportation, health care and higher education.
Q: Will the senior citizen property tax cut be reinstated if Referendum C passes?
A: Legislative leaders made such a pledge.
Q: Do C and D affect local governments?
A: Indirectly. The state partners with cities and counties on transportation projects and social services. If the referendums fail, local governments may have to ask residents for increased taxes, or else cut services. That’s why the state, municipal and county groups endorsed both referendums.
Q: Opposition ads call the measures a “$5 billion blank check.” Is that true?
A: That’s a weird ad. A blank check carries a signature with the amount left blank. A “blank check” for a specific amount is thus a contradiction in terms, even by advertising standards.
Q: Quit nitpicking. Is the $5 billion amount correct?
A: Yes, if both referendums pass. The state Legislative Council estimates C would authorize the state to keep $3.7 billion above the limits otherwise set by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights over the next five years. If D passes, too, the state can also issue $1.2 billion in bonds to finance 55 specific transportation projects. Thus, the price tag for both measures comes to $4.9 billion.
Q: Would all the new transportation money go to highways?
A: No. Referendum D includes state matching money for federal transit grants in Mesa County and the Roaring Fork Valley. Referendum C also will also allocate some additional funds for transportation, and 10 percent of that total would be earmarked for mass transit.
Q: Would approval mean a tax hike?
A: No, the extra revenue would come from a fixed share of a growing pie. No Colorado tax rate would be increased by either measure. The income tax rate will actually drop from the current 4.63 percent to 4.5 percent in 2011 if C passes.
Q: Will I still qualify for an income tax refund?
A: Yes, if you’ve paid more taxes than you owe. For example, if you withheld $150 and owe only $100, you’ll still get $50 back. However, you will not receive rebates from surplus TABOR sales tax revenues that were issued in some years after the measure’s passage. No such rebates have been issued since 2001.
Q: Will those lost rebates cost me much?
A: The Legislative Council estimates that the average sales tax rebate for next year would be $15, and for five years, $491.
Q: Don’t opponents claim the cost per taxpayer is $3,200 over that five years?
A: There are actually 16 classes of rebates under TABOR, but the sales tax refund is the only one received by almost all taxpayers. No taxpayer receives all 16 rebates, as they would have to do to get that $3,200.
Skeptical?
Gluttons for fiscal detail will want to immerse themselves in the Legislative Council’s “blue book.” Look in your piles on your kitchen counter; every registered voter was supposed to get one in the mail.
