The fast-moving effort to place a $4.1 billion-a-year income-tax hike on next year’s statewide ballot has been stopped in its tracks by the same state body that originally let it move forward. Proponents want voters to replace the state’s 4.4% universal income-tax rate with a graduated tax th ey call “progressive.” Their proposal would impose an array of five different tax brackets on Coloradans and hike taxes on higher-income earners. Earlier this month, we noted that opponents of the ballot proposal might challenge the measure before the Colorado Title Board. They did, and they won. At least, for now. The board previously had permitted proponents to start gathering voters’ signatures for the November 2026 ballot. That approval came after they had rejected two similar versions of the proposal for being too complex. The latest about-face to stop the tax hike comes after the board concluded that, in fact, the proposal still doesn’t follow the state’s “single subject” rule. That’s because the initiative doesn’t just seek to eliminate Colorado’s constitutional requirement for a single income-tax rate. It also establishes a new graduated income-tax structure, exempts the revenue from limits under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, and specifically earmarks it for specific spending priorities (education, health care, childcare and workforce programs). By our count, that’s four distinct objectives — a pretty clear violation of Colorado’s constitutional mandate that every ballot measure or legislative bill has only one subject. Proponents say they’ll be back with another version, so it’s not over yet. But when you have to keep revising your proposal just to meet basic constitutional requirements, that’s a sign you’re overreaching. The single-subject rule is intended to keep ballot proposals simple, easy to follow and harder to corrupt. Why should Coloradans treat our tax code any differently? Imagine the field day special interests would have with a graduated income tax. As Gazette columnist Jimmy Sengenberger asked, “Do we really want Colorado’s tax code to be as layered and messy as the feds’ ?” Our state discarded the antiquated system of a graduated tax in the late 1980s. There’s nothing “progressive” about reviving an old, unfair system. Especially if the ultimate goal is to give the legislature more play money than it already has. The state’s current “flat” tax ensures everyone pays their fair share by requiring the same proportion of everyone’s household income. Put simply: The more you earn, the more you pay. Someone making $75,000 in adjusted gross income paying 4.4% pays $3,000; for an adjusted gross income of $250,000, the same percentage nets the state $11,000. That’s genuine fairness, and it’s easy to understand. When the current income tax alone already nets over $17 billion annually, soaking the public for an additional $4 billion while complicating the tax code and abandoning TABOR’s revenue caps is a tough case to make. Colorado voters have turned down far more tax increases than they’ve approved. Efforts to unravel TABOR in particular have been resoundingly rejected. Here, it isn’t just about leaving taxpayers dizzy with its complexity. It’s about raising as much money as possible for the profligate Legislature to spend. That’s a difficult sell to weary Colorado consumers already struggling to make ends meet, especially after they’ve watched legislators squander state surpluses time and time again. Taxpayer’s can be thankful the measure got cut short, yet again. Let’s hope this time, it’s final. ...read more read less