Clik here to view.
Ft. Collins should axe its rights violating bag fee
The Fort Collins City Council, apparently tired of living in Boulder’s shadow, wants to follow in Boulder’s footsteps and impose a fee on paper and plastic shopping bags. Doing so would mean treading...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Polis may have tax issue on Weld County property
UPDATE: Just as we published this piece, we did another check of the numbers on the Weld County website. It now appears the discrepancy in tax evaluations has been cured, likely after we contacted...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Moving forward on scholarship tax credits in Colorado
Although programs increasing school choice through private investment have a strong legal track record, opponents continue pushing back in the courts. Their determined attacks shouldn’t deter Colorado...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CT documents show tax lien placed on Hickenlooper property
Embedded below are documents obtained from Middletown, Connecticut. The first is a “Lis Pendens,” which technically is a notice of legal action that is soon to follow. The Lis Pendens, dated October...
View ArticleClik here to view.
TABOR refunds good for Colorado
Your Taxpayer Bill of Rights refund check isn’t in the mail, at least not yet. Some groups would like to stop next year’s refunds, in spite of the benefits they would mean for the state. Rapid growth...
View ArticleBlake: Bonds that don’t pay off create a TIF
Thoreau’s pieties notwithstanding, any man more right than his neighbors still constitutes a minority of one — at least on the Westminster City Council. That minority is Councilman Bruce Baker, who has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Westminster abusing ‘blight’ designation for TIF-funded urban renewal
Few Coloradans have any idea how much money is diverted away from counties, school districts and special districts and into the pockets of cities by Urban Renewal Area (URA) projects. Ask Colorado...
View ArticleBlake: ‘Bustang’ grazes on FASTER fees
Collapsing bridges! Giant tire-flattening, axle-busting potholes! Aren’t they the problems that the FASTER bill of 2009 was designed to solve? They were, at least according to news coverage at the...
View ArticleBlake: Littleton proposal would place check on urban renewal and TIFs
Citizens in the Denver suburb of Littleton are trying to get more voter control over urban-renewal projects established by their municipal government. They have gathered enough signatures for a charter...
View ArticleClik here to view.
TABOR refunds belong to taxpayers who earned the money
Colorado’s economy has shown remarkable resiliency in the wake of the Great Recession. Unemployment has steadily fallen from a high of 9.6 percent in 2010 to an estimated 4.1 percent in November 2014....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jeffco COPs: Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Is Jefferson County School District about to take on $80,000,000 in unsecured debt without asking its taxpayers? That’s what would happen under a proposal to fund new school buildings. Under the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Senate Bill 80 gives Colorado PERA members choice over their benefits plan
The benefits of choice in many areas of life are evident all around us. That begs the question why the state’s public pension system fighting to keep its members from having that choice. Colorado’s...
View ArticleIf Aurora’s Gaylord Resort can’t sustain itself, is it worth sustaining?
What if I told you a major resort chain was about to build a 1,500 room luxury hotel, water park and convention center, right here in Colorado on 85 acres of prime Aurora real estate? And what if I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Op-Ed: Quick fixes for PERA bringing more risk
Photo credit: Todd Shepherd With the legislative session winding down, lawmakers in Denver are moving quicker than ever to squeeze in critical votes before the session comes to a close. Yet, with only...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Steamboat’s downtown Urban Renewal Authority comes at the expense of local...
Colorado citizens may be surprised to learn that over $770 million in property tax money has been redirected away from schools to locally formed Urban Renewal Authorities (URAs) across the state....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blake: Stock Show taxes are leading a lamb to slaughter
Lame-duck Denver Auditor Dennis Gallagher is finally retiring after 44 years in public office, but he’s not waddling off quietly into the sunset. The term-limited Gallagher will be succeeded by former...
View ArticleClik here to view.
JeffCo, Thompson schools equalize funding for charters
Two Colorado school districts took steps this week to equalize funding between traditional public schools and their public charter school counterparts. Jefferson County Public School District and the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Are you a Colorado use tax felon?
Would it surprise you to learn that many or most Colorado residents, perhaps including you, are technically violating Colorado tax law? It’s true. Thankfully, a relatively simple legislative reform...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blake: One TABOR loss could mean another TABOR victory
The courts keep knocking down TABOR-based lawsuits, but the tax law’s defenders keep coming back for more punishment. Maybe they’ll win one someday. Hope can be found in a recent ruling in the TABOR...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nederland’s bag tax disguised as a ‘fee’ violates TABOR
Nederland recently became the latest local government to enact a new tax in violation of the Colorado Constitution by disingenuously calling it a fee. The town’s board of trustees in May passed an...
View Article