In an election where Jefferson County (Jeffco) voters elected Democrats across the board in candidate races, they also opted to keep taxpayer protections in place with the defeat of Issues 1A, 1B and 1C.
While two of the measures dealt with marijuana cultivation, sales and taxes inside the county, all three would have had direct impact on the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) by removing TABOR revenue and expenditure limits.
TABOR is a constitutional amendment that, among other things, regulates the growth of local government revenue to a reasonable annual rate, currently 3.9% for Jeffco. Excess revenue must be returned to taxpayers unless voters give permission to exceed those limits.
Ballot Issue 1A would have allowed Jefferson County to permanently exempt all non-property tax revenue from the TABOR revenue limits. That would include revenue the county receives in the way of state grants, user fees, highways or tax funds and interest revenue, among other sources. It failed 50.55 percent to 49.45 percent.
See the full article by Sherrie Peif, November 14, 2022