Denver, CO – There is a lot of confusion surrounding Amendment B on the Colorado Ballot, which would repeal the “Gallagher Amendment.”
The Gallagher Amendment was added to the Colorado Constitution in 1982.
The amendment created a new formula to determine and streamline property tax rates. The purpose was to slow the growth of residential property taxes and keep them low in Colorado.
Since 1982, residential property values in Colorado have skyrocketed. Because of this, the Gallagher formula has pushed residential property tax rates down — saving homeowners thousands of dollars each year.
All this is threatened if Amendment B passes. Because of Governor Polis’ lockdown, non-residential property values are declining, causing many people to ask for a repeal of the Gallagher Amendment. The drop in non-residential (or commercial) property values is expected to cause the property tax rates on residential property to plummet, meaning there will be a shortfall in tax revenue to fund education in the next couple of years.
There are proponents of repeal on both sides of the political aisle, but their intentions are completely different.
Democrats are looking to repeal the Gallagher amendment to give them more flexibility to raise taxes on homeowners.
Luckily, even if Gallagher is repealed, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights still stands in the way of tax hikes — but who knows how much longer that will last? Democrat attacks on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights will not stop until they are able to repeal that, too.
Voters should remember that the lockdowns and the shortfall are temporary, but a repeal of Gallagher would be permanent.
Gallagher stands as an extra hurdle against tax hikes. Repealing it would help the long term Democrat strategy to take more of your hard-earned money.
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