Conservative activist Jon Caldara is pushing ahead with efforts to sue the state over Gov. Bill Ritter’s plan to freeze property tax rates for school districts statewide.
Caldara, president of the Independence Institute in Golden, said Wednesday that he plans to unveil details at a news conference at the Capitol Thursday.
The Institute has hired Richard Westfall, former soliciter general for the state, and it plans to file open-records requests with school districts and county clerks to obtain records related to those districts’ previous elections waiving constitutional limits on revenues.
Ritter and advocates for the tax plan said it would not raise tax rates so it didn’t violate constitutional guarantees that voters approve tax increases.
Caldara said the freeze will increase property owners’ tax bills because the value of the property increases over time.
“We’re coming at this with the good old-fashioned idea that gentlemen ask first,” said Caldara, who previously was criticized for saying the plan was the “equivalent of fiscal date-rape.”
