Getting your player ready...
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled this week that the state can increase the severance tax on coal without statewide voter approval, reversing an appeals-court ruling.
Appellate judges ruled last year that raising the tax violates the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. The tax on coal removed from the ground was 54 cents a ton for years after TABOR passed until it was raised to 76 cents in 2008.
The Colorado Department of Revenue argued that the increase was made to keep pace with inflation and thus technically didn’t constitute an increase under TABOR.
Denver Post staff and wire reports
