Left Face
Join Adam Gillard and Dick Wilkinson while they talk politics and community engagement in Pikes Peak region.
Left Face
Unraveling the Impacts of Proposition HH on Property Taxes
Ever wondered how a yes or no vote on Proposition HH could change the future of your property taxes? Ponder no more! I'm your host, Adam Gillard, and in this episode, we're breaking down the impacts of Proposition HH - a legislation aimed at reducing property taxes for homes and businesses for at least a decade. We'll walk you through what voting 'yes' or 'no' would mean for you as a taxpayer, the implications for seniors, and the effects on rental properties and more. Plus, we'll review how the proposition interacts with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (Tabor) refunds for all taxpayers in 2023.
So, tune in, and let's unravel the mysteries of Proposition HH together!
www.EPCCPV.org or info@epccpv.org
Hello everyone and welcome to the All Things Military Veteran Podcast. I am your host, adam Gillard, and this podcast is brought to you by the El Paso County, colorado Progressive Veterans. We are a vets group that just helps other vets find resources and get the benefits that they've earned. If you're a veteran or a family member of a veteran and you need any kind of assistance with anything from you know pre eviction, post eviction, you know you're facing homelessness, anything like that, or you're already homeless, reach out. You can contact me at info at epccpvorg or check out the website and that's epccpvorg also. Like I said, if you need anything, just reach out and we'll see what we can do to help you out. There's a lot of resources in town. People are always kind of surprised at what is available to the veteran community and I always tell them there's a lot of people out here that really care about us and want to do right by us. So reach out and if you have any questions we can get you pointed in the right direction.
Speaker 1:For this podcast we're going to be going over our blue book that we all got in the mail the other day, specifically about Proposition HH titled Reduced Property Taxes that Retain State Revenue. But before we get into that, I just want to kind of pitch something that the group is putting on here. We have a breakfast on Veterans Day 1111 at Persephone Grays up in Manitou, right on Manitou Avenue. There, from 07 to 1030, along with Persephone Grays helping us out on Veterans Day, toasted Bistro is open up their doors too, and they're actually opening up a little early for us too. They will be offering coffee for us at their location over by the Wichita lot. So if you're waiting for our shuttle to get up to Persephone Grays, stop in at Toasted, have a cup of coffee and just relax. Hit them up, coming or going, but please, everybody, come out on November 11th anytime. There's no agenda or anything else going on there. Just show up, have breakfast on us, hang out in Manitou great, great little town to hang out and get to know. So join us November 11th, anytime, from 07 to 1030. Thank you All. Right on to the blue book.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the great things about the state of Colorado is when everybody gets a mail-in ballot which I think is it should happen in all states, it should be a standard and then they send out these blue ballots or books on what's on the ballot, excuse me, and really breaks it down to a detailed level to really give you all your options. But you know, and then in the lives we lead, it's hard to sit down and actually find the time to read these things. So that's what I'm going to kind of try to do today Just to give you the actual words of the legislation here so that you guys can make an informed decision on what you want to vote for here. All right, here we go. So proposition HH the actual ballot question is going to read like this shall the state reduce property taxes for homes and businesses, including expanding property tax relief for seniors and backfill counties, water districts, fire districts, ambulance and hospital districts and other local governments, and fund school districts by using a portion of the state surplus up to the proposition HH cap as defined in this new measure. So that's how it's going to read on the ballot. So there's some vague information or vague question in there if you don't go back and read the previous 11 pages of facts and stats and graphs that they give you here. But again, not everybody has time for that. So we'll go through that, all right. So the first thing to know about these blue books is this is it gives both sides of the argument. So, as you know, things are being read. You may pick up on things I know I pick up on things as I read and it does a pretty good job of going into the things that make you question whether you want to vote yes or no. So Proposal in HH, if approved, would lower property taxes owed for homes and businesses for at least 10 years Compared to what would be owed under current law. Also allow the state to retain money that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers under the taxpayers bill of rights or Tabor through at least 2032.
Speaker 1:Now here's the one. The ones that I got stuck on. Authorize the state legislator to retain revenue after 2032 without further voter approval If property tax decreases equivalent to those in the measure are maintained. So my sticking point is legislators can cart blanch, increase the the Tabor revenue being held back For the state without voter approval, and that's kind of one of the huge benefits with. You know it's a bill of rights. The taxpayer has the right to decide when and where their money's going. That would be my big.
Speaker 1:My biggest thing with with this bill right now is that it just allows them to to do that without voter approval, but it goes on. It'll allow the retained revenue to be spent on education, reimbursements to local governments for some of the reduced property tax revenue, and rest and rental assistance programs. It also distribute Tabor refunds to taxpayers in equal amounts for tax year 2023 only and Create a new limit on the growth of property tax revenue for the most local governments. So what does your vote mean? A yes vote on proposition HH Lowers property taxes owed, allows the state to keep additional money that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers temporarily, changes how taxpayer Tabor refunds are distributed and Creates a new property tax limit for most local governments. A no vote Proposition HH maintains current law for property taxes, tabor refunds and state and local government revenue limits.
Speaker 1:So now to get into the, the meat of HH here. What does it do so? Proposition HH reduces property taxes owed, resulting in smaller increases in property taxes beginning in 2023, while allowing the state to keep additional revenue that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers. So I know, on my house you know kind of standard size house for this area my mortgage went up about 250 dollars. We do we just? Or it will be going up 250 dollars in December. We just got the letter for that. So anything that starts off with reducing my property taxes Intrigues me to say the least.
Speaker 1:But the measure lowers property taxes by reducing the portion of a property's market value that is subject to taxes, allowing seniors who have qualified for the existing homestead exemption to receive the same benefit at a new home, and creating a new limit on property tax revenue for most local governments. It requires that local governments exceeding the limit either go through a public process to waive the limit or lower tax rates to stay below the limit. So it sounds like they're putting in some good guardrails to make sure that local governments don't abuse the tax system or you start taking too much from us. So that sounds like it's a good benefit there. The measure creates a new cap on state revenue that grows by the same rate as the existing cap, plus an additional one percentage point each year. The revenue retained from the new cap is used to fund education, reimburse local governments for a portion of the lost property tax revenue and provide rental assistance. So how long will the changes under the measure last? Most changes under Proposition HH remain in effect through state budget year 2031 to 32 and may be extended by the state legislator for future budget years without further voter approval. Again, that's a huge sticking point for me. If extended, the state may continue to retain additional revenue in future years as long as the state legislator extends property tax reductions equal to or greater than those in the measure. The amount the state is allowed to retain grows each year and continues to grow if the measure is extended.
Speaker 1:In addition, if Proposition HH passes, another state law distributes refunds under the table or in equal amounts in tax year 2023. Only. This thing has a ton of figures and charts in it, which can all be found either in your Blue Book or you can Google Colorado State Blue Book and you'll find it. But there's a ton of figures in here that say that it's a good thing. But again, I encourage you to go look at those. So the big question how does HH impact taxpayers? The measure primarily impacts taxpayers in two ways by reducing the amount owed in property taxes and by changing the amount of the table refunds.
Speaker 1:Figure two summarizes the impacts of Proposition HH on various taxpayers compared to what would happen if Proposition HH does not pass. Each of these impacts is described in more detail later in this analysis. So real quickly with a figure two. It says in 2023, if you have an income less than $99,000, your table refunds will increase. If your income is greater than $99,000, your table refunds will decrease, and then in 2024 through 2023, table refunds decrease and could be eliminated. For all taxpayers to see how tax revenue affects the amount of the decrease, there's another figure further on in the study.
Speaker 1:For property owners, all changes are for 23 through 32, and that's otherwise noted. So if you have a primary residence that's a multifamily property, you'll have a reduction in your property taxes compared to what would be owed otherwise. For seniors, the same reduction in property taxes for primary residences, but also, beginning in 2025, seniors that have qualified for the homestead exemption can receive the same benefit if they purchase and move to a new home. If you have a second home or rental property, you get that same reduction in your property taxes in 23 and 24, but then, starting in 25, you kind of get a smaller property tax reduction for those secondary properties. For rental properties, you have a reduction in property taxes compared to what was owed, but the amount of reduction depends on the type of property that it is. And for renters you're not going to see a direct benefit from property tax decreases, but there will be additional funding for rental assistance for qualifying renters More on the impact of the taxpayers. So in 2023, providing equal table refunds to all taxpayers will increase refunds for low income and middle income taxpayers, while higher income taxpayers will receive a lower refund than under current law. So they're talking about just doing a blanket refund check. Everybody gets the same. Property taxes for all property owners will be lower than they would be if Proposition HH is not approved. For some higher income homeowners, the reduction in table refunds in 2023 may offset the savings from lower property taxes In 2024 and through at least 2032, table refunds will decrease or be eliminated for taxpayers at all income levels, depending on state revenue collections each year. These future decreases in table refunds may offset or exceed property tax savings under Proposition HH for property owners, depending on the value of their property.
Speaker 1:Now, a big thing that this proposition and all this, the whole study here, depends on is kind of a stable economy, growing at its current pace. If we go into a recession, this bill will probably end up being really good for homeowners and things like that. If we stay on pace and, you know, or you know, have a big boom, which is highly unlikely. It could go the other way where, you know, having the state get more revenue from us and then, being unchecked, things could just escalate, you know, or be a slippery slope, whichever direction you want to go with that. But that's just another thing to think about. Me personally, I think it's going to be a. You know there's going to be some kind of downturn in the economy, probably around the election next year, so that is a factor for me.
Speaker 1:The blue book also goes into how the proposition will change property taxes. Like the actual details it talks about lowers assessments for residential property and most non-residential property and subtracts a set amount from most property's values before applying the new assessments. Allows a senior age 65 and older who has previously qualified for the senior homestead exemption to receive the same property tax benefit in a new home. Distinguishes owner-occupied primary residents and multifamily properties from other residential properties, resulting in a larger subtraction for primary residents and multifamily properties than other properties beginning in 25. And that's what I was talking about before. If you have that secondary property, rental property or something like that, you don't get as big of tax breaks on that. And then it changes the tax code to establish a limit on local government property tax revenue growth, including methods to lower tax rates, to comply with the limit or to waive the limit. This limit is discussed in figure three.
Speaker 1:In figure three is the average property tax impacts as a result of the proposition and it shows residential properties, breaks it down by their property value and then the average change in your property tax going off mine. It kind of evens out for what my increase is going to be coming in December here, so in 23,. It kind of evens out In 24, it will be even a little bit more less for me. I'm kind of in the middle of the range of that scale here. It's definitely a bill that helps out lower middle class and lower class of folks. It also breaks down the non-residential property, commercial properties, agriculture, things like that. But I am poor and don't have anything that has that high of a value in my life, so yeah, I'll skip that portion. So the next part of this review here it's something that I really appreciate the blue book did because it kind of really dove into what Tabor is, because you know, I've only been a Colorado resident for a year now, because I was Resident of another state while I was in the military. You know, colorado still charges military folks taxes, so, or their state taxes, so a lot of folks have their home of residence other places To avoid that. Um, so, only being a you know, a Colorado resident for a year here, getting to know Tabor has been a Learning experience for me, obviously. Um.
Speaker 1:So what is the state's revenue limit, known as the Tabor limit? So the Colorado constitution includes a section the taxpayers bill of rights, commonly known as Tabor that limits the amount of money that the state government can collect and spend or save. Each year, order approval is required to retain money above the Tabor limit. If money is collected above the limit, the excess must be refunded to taxpayers. This is called a Tabor refund. Currently, a portion of this money is refunded through property tax reductions, including those for seniors, veterans with a disability and gold star surviving spouses, and the remainder is distributed as a tiered sales tax refund using the state income tax return. For last year, only part of the Tabor refund was distributed to taxpayers through checks in the amount of $750 for a single filer and $1500 for a joint filer, rather than through the tiered system.
Speaker 1:Uh, flat refunds provide larger amounts for lower income taxpayers and smaller refunds for higher income taxpayers when compared with the tiered refund system and honestly, I am all for that. I would rather have a bigger impact on the lower income. The higher income folks are obviously Doing all right. So Tabor is just the guardrails that help keep the government spending in check. Which Brilliant. I think it should be standard everywhere, or something like this.
Speaker 1:Um, but what happens to the state revenue limit if proposition HH passes? So it will create a new cap on the amount of money the state may retain over its revenue limit that is higher than the current cap Established by the referendum C in 2005. Uh, proposition HH allows the state to retain additional revenue up to the new cap, which grows by population growth and inflation, Plus one percentage point each year. The measure allows the state to retain an estimated 170 million in state budget Uh For 23 to 24 and 360 million in state budget Year 24 and 25, so that almost doubles it. The state is allowed to retain increasing amounts through at least 2032, depending on revenue collections. There's a figure for more information and, yeah, there's a few more figures for more information. Um, but figure four, you know, kind of shows the slope that they were projecting and with the new cap it would add about 2.2 billion per year Um Over the time of it.
Speaker 1:And you know, honestly, you know when, when these chart, when, when these uh Cap limits were initially set, uh, it was, you know, 2005. So we've gone through a lot. There's been, you know, pandemics and massive inflation, things like that. So I think they're honestly needs to be more careful like that. So I I think they're honestly needs to be a another look at this. So, increasing the cap Um, it's probably something that needs to happen in my opinion, just because 2005 statistics, um, don't add up to what we've experienced since then, in the Damn almost 20 years since then.
Speaker 1:So, uh, uh, I think resetting those caps and kind of making it work for now, um, again, my biggest sticking point is just that they don't have to ask in the future that that scares me, uh, but I mean, that's why it's important to vote in people that Care about you and not about their own pockets. So everybody, you know heats taxes, nobody ever wants to pay them. Um, um. Again, it's a necessary evil when you live In cities this size, uh, you know taxes or something that we have to have Um, but it's all about how will that revenue is spent and the um, like how transparent the government is in spending our money. I think those are important things. If we knew where our money was going In a more clearer picture, I think people would be more apt to be okay with it.
Speaker 1:But for this bill, the retained money will be used for the following purposes Up to 20% to reimburse eligible local governments for lost property tax revenue and up to 20 million each year for rental assistance. And the remaining funds to reimburse school districts for the reduced property tax revenue as a result of the measure and for education related programs. Estimated at 125 million in state budget year 25 to 24 and up to 2.16 billion in state year budget year 2031 to 32 and over 10 years. Local reimbursements are expected to decrease. Rental assistance will reach its 20 million limit and the amount retained by the state will increase. As a result, the amount allocated to education funding will increase, assuming consistent revenue growth, and the new education funding cannot Replace current general fund spending for public school finance. So that's cool. So it's just more money on top.
Speaker 1:They can't trade off, you know, school funds from the general fund for the for this new taber refund, so for this year's taber refunds, if it passes, anybody making under 99k We'll get a little bit more under the prop HH law. Everybody making 99001 and above They'll see a reduction in what they're getting. But Again, if you're making over 278 thousand dollars, you losing a thousand dollars Isn't a big event impact as somebody else gaining that makes under fifty thousand. For them to gain two hundred seventy dollars, the the humanity math doesn't add up for me on that one. It to oppose this like it makes sense to me to support something that charges People making a lot of money or they get a little bit less benefit out of it. I mean they still get the 898, which is not bad, but I think that's good for society in general. And Then going forward in future years Everybody will get a little bit less money for taber refunds going into like 24 and 25 you know, little less money coming back for all of us. So overall I'm gonna vote yes on this.
Speaker 1:I Think Lowering the property and again this is for me, lowering my property taxes will help me out and I like that. They have a plan for backfilling the governments that are gonna lose money On the property taxes portion. They have a plan To a to backfill everybody. I mean. I think that's key. They're not just slashing and hoping everybody just figures it out. Again, my only big sticking point and I I hope it can be amended or changed here, and you know, in future sessions they shouldn't get a free check to keep raising it or keep raising the cap limit after 32. It should be a set, a set limit. So I hope they readdress that. Um, again, it also comes down to voting in Responsible people who aren't trying to defraud the, the American public. So, as always, get out there and vote for good candidates. But, like I said, I will be landing on yes on this one.
Speaker 1:If you have any comments or questions or suggestions or things I haven't thought of or said, reach out to me at info at EPCC PV org. Love to hear from you. You have story to tell? You want to come on, talk? Just reach out and we'll get you on here. And now a quick word for our sponsor.
Speaker 1:The all things military and veteran Podcast is proudly sponsored by native roots cannabis company, colorado's leading locally grown and owned dispensary chain. Native roots has been our largest donor since we were founded four years ago and we thank them for their continued support. They have 20 locations in Colorado and native roots is ready to educate and serve recreational, recreational and medicinal patients alike. Thank you everyone again for listening to the all things military and veteran podcast. I hope you found it to be informative. You can find us on over a dozen podcast apps, including Apple podcast, google podcast and Spotify. We hope you find our programs rewarding and informative. Please check us out on the web at e p c c p v org. Sign up for our newsletter and feel free to drop us a line at info at e p c c p v org. Thank you for listening everyone and I hope you're having fun out there. Stay safe.
