Colorado voters reject Proposition CC

Proposition CC, the statewide ballot question that would have eliminated TABOR — Taxpayer's Bill of Rights — refunds and used that money for K-12 education, higher education and transportation projects, was turned down by Colorado voters.

As of Nov. 7, two days after Election Day, unofficial results showed 53.7% of voters said no to the measure, while 46.3% said yes.

The measure asked voters to allow the state government to keep tax revenue that it currently must give back to taxpayers on an annual basis.

“It was a great night for every Colorado taxpayer who will continue to enjoy their constitutional right to TABOR refunds,” Amy Oliver Cooke, executive vice president of the Independence Institute and a No on CC coalition member, said in a news release. “This is a mandate to the Colorado State Legislature, that they damn well better start prioritizing roads and education without raising taxes."

In the near future, depending on individual taxpayers’ yearly income, a TABOR refund in one year could be as low as $20 or as high as $79. Joint filers would get twice as much.

Colorado voters in 1992 passed an amendment to the Colorado Constitution, the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR, which limits the amount of money the state government can collect and spend, or save, each year.

Proponents said Prop CC would have been a small start to catching Colorado's budget up from dire shortfalls in funding for education and roads and bridges. But opponents said taxpayers can't be sure the money will be spent the way it's promised.

Perhaps the most philosophical argument is whether Prop CC was the first step toward dismantling TABOR as a whole — opponents characterize it as a slippery slope.

“Tonight’s outcome reflects an important and continued trend, no matter the political headwinds: at their core, Coloradans remain fiscally prudent,” Michael Fields, executive director of Colorado Rising Action and a No on CC coalition member, said in the release.