Amendment b
Point by Point
The Gallagher Amendment is the ONLY protection taxpayers have against skyrocketing property taxes — THE ONLY PROTECTION!
Here’s the text of Amendment B that you will see on the ballot:
“Without increasing property tax rates, to help preserve funding for local districts that provide fire protection, police, ambulance, hospital, kindergarten through twelfth grade education, and other services, and to avoid automatic mill levy increases, shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution to repeal the requirement that the general assembly periodically change the residential assessment rate in order to maintain the statewide proportion of residential property as compared to all other taxable property valued for property tax purposes and repeal the nonresidential property tax assessment rate of twenty-nine percent?”
Red flag #1: This is one sentence!
Did you understand what they are trying to have you vote for here? It’s a verbal snow job. Those behind this repeal effort don’t want you to understand what you just read. They just want you to vote for it.
Let’s analyze the text of this amendment point by point:
Ballot text
Commentary
“Without increasing property tax rates…
This is dishonest language right out of the gate. By specifying ‘tax rates’ rather than ‘taxes paid’, Amendment B disguises it’s true intent to INCREASE TAXES.
How so?
Here’s how: If the value of your property goes up at all, and the Gallagher Amendment is repealed, without the state legislature adjusting the assessment rate lower as mandated by Gallagher, you will pay more taxes
Amendment B is a back door to get around the Tabor Amendment that requires voter approval to raise taxes.
Don’t be fooled!
Amendment B, if passed, will increase your property taxes!
to help preserve funding for local districts that provide fire protection, police, ambulance, hospital, kindergarten through twelfth grade education, and other services
Of course you want to support firemen, police, ambulances, hospitals, schools and other services, right? You don’t want to be against them! It’s a no-brainer to vote for this repeal! Right?
All of these areas of service are important and vital to our community. They absolutely need and deserve funding.
Unfortunately, they have been caught between Gallagher and the Tabor Amendment.
But removing the ONLY protection to homeowners against exorbitant property taxes is not the way to remedy this situation.
The state legislature could have enacted alternative measures to assist all of these worthy entities but they chose not to. Instead, they want to kill the Gallagher Amendment.
and to avoid automatic mill levy increases
A scare tactic and veiled threat.
“If you want to avoid AUTOMATIC mill levy increases, you better vote for Amendment B!”
Baloney!
In Colorado, there’s no such thing as ‘automatic mill levy increases’ because voters have to approve all tax increases.
shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution to repeal the requirement that the general assembly periodically change the residential assessment rate in order to maintain the statewide proportion of residential property as compared to all other taxable property valued for property tax purposes
This is a murky statement of what the Gallagher Amendment in the Colorado State Constitution does.
Under the Gallagher Amendment, residential property taxes must always be 45% of the state’s overall property tax revenue.
And commercial property taxes are always 55% of the state’s overall property tax revenue.
In order to maintain the 45/55 ratio, the state legislature regularly adjusts the assessment rate on residential properties.
Amendment B, if it passes, will end adjustments to the assessment rate. That’s why your taxes will increase, no matter what lies the politicians are telling you now.
IMPORTANT: According to the Colorado Tax Administrator’s estimate, if Gallagher stays in place, the residential assessment rate must be lowered from the current rate of 7.15% to 5.88% for your 2021 tax bill.
This means your taxes will go down.
This is a tax cut for you!
Don’t be fooled!
If you vote for Amendment B, you are canceling your own property tax cut for 2021 and forever!
Isn’t canceling a tax cut another way of increasing taxes?
The Gallagher Amendment is the ONLY protection that property owners in Colorado have against skyrocketing taxes that will force many residents out of their homes as taxes become unaffordable.
Don’t be fooled!
Vote NO on Amendment B.
and repeal the nonresidential property tax assessment rate of twenty-nine percent?”
This little phrase tacked on the end almost seems like an afterthought that corporate special interests are hoping you won’t notice.
This is just a sneaky way by corporate special interests to get you to vote them a huge tax cut.
Don’t fall for this dishonesty by politicians, especially Jack Tate.
Corporate interests ALWAYS think they are paying too high a tax rate.
By repealing their tax rate, they want to shift a good portion of their tax burden onto private property owners.
In other words, business wants you to pay more taxes and they want to pay less taxes.
What’s wrong with business paying 55% and private residents paying 45% of the property tax burden? Nothing!
Don’t be fooled!
Vote NO on Amendment B.
