A “No” Vote on Colorado Prop HH Means Taxpayers Get to Keep Their Hard-Earned Money

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Proposition HH (“Prop HH”) is a ballot measure that offers to slow the pace of property tax increases, without offering any actual cuts. It would do so in exchange for reducing or even eliminating the TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) refunds that currently protect Coloradans from excessive growth in state government. Families can expect to see an increase in their tax burden and the size of government under Prop HH.

Despite misleading ballot language, Prop HH is not fundamentally a property tax cut. Even the state title board calls Prop HH a tax change, not a reduction. As one board member put it, “Some of these provisions actually increase the tax.”

Prop HH also takes away voters’ voice by allowing state lawmakers to extend its government-growing, tax-hiking provisions beyond the 10-year window all the way until 2040 without asking for future voter approval.

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

With Prop HH, state government comes out ahead, and taxpayers pay the bill.

If Prop HH Passes:

• The State could collect an additional $2.2 billion in annual tax hikes by 2031-32, and if lawmakers extend Prop HH to 2040, voters could be hit by a $21 billion net tax increase.
• The average household could lose more than $5,100 in TABOR refunds over the next decade—an amount that eclipses promised property tax relief.
• Renters in Colorado (34% of people) would not directly benefit from the property tax provisions but would still get hit hard with the full brunt of effective tax hikes from the erosion or elimination of TABOR refunds.
• Money would be stripped from local communities and funneled into state government. Many localities would receive only partial reimbursements—in some cases only 65%—for the revenues effectively taken over by the state through Prop HH.
• If voters are lucky to still receive any TABOR tax refunds at all, Prop HH weakens them from tax cuts that offset taxes paid and boost economic growth into stimulus checks that do not improve the state economy.

THE TRUTH IS CLEAR: PROP HH IS A POORLY-DISGUISED TROJAN HORSE FOR TAX HIKES.

Colorado Prop HH erodes the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, gives billions more dollars to state government, and leaves Coloradans with less disposable income.