The results of the Gov. Jared Polis’ call for a Colorado legislature special session right before Thanksgiving suggests that the Democrat majority’s plan to mitigate rising property taxes is to implement the primary provisions of Proposition HH, which was rejected by voters statewide, including Summit County, in a somewhat more piecemeal fashion through the legislative process. The special session was just a hint of what is to come.

There is precedent for ignoring the will of voters. Gov. Polis was a vocal opponent of Colorado’s oil and natural gas industry during his time as a U.S. congressman. During his first campaign for governor in 2018, he muted his outspoken opposition while Proposition 112 was on the statewide ballot. The plan for his election was to deflect the issue and let the voters decide. Proposition 112 was soundly defeated by Colorado voters; however, Democrats gained seats in both the Colorado House of Representatives and Senate. Upon being sworn into office, the new majority and governor wasted no time legislatively enacting key provisions of the rejected proposition. Never mind what the voters said, government knows best. Starting in January, this is about to happen again.

At the heart of the matter, proponents of bigger and more expansive government hate TABOR, the 1992 Taxpayer Bill of Rights, because it restricts government’s ability to grow and spend more money annually beyond the limits of the constitutional amendment. Therefore, free spenders in the state legislature and across county and municipal governments insist it must be eliminated.

For many decades, government has manipulated tax and regulatory policy to pick winners and losers and to redistribute income. There is no better example of using money owed back to taxpayers to cover deficits than the Social Security system. So, the latest assault on TABOR is not unprecedented. However, if the state is going to decouple the amount of a taxpayer’s refund from the amount of tax that he/she/they paid, and instead redistribute it in lump sums according to income levels, regardless of the amount of tax paid, then let’s at least use the redistribution to support small and medium size businesses and grow our state’s economy.

The obvious and straight-forward solution to the problem of high taxes is to cut taxes, but that is a nonstarter with the governor and the Democrat-controlled state legislature. Residential taxpayers are upset over the 6.7% (slated to increase to 7.15%) property tax rate, while commercial properties are taxed at 27.9%. Beware, the state legislature is planning to consider a bill to tax some short-term rental properties at the commercial rate in 2024.

Summit County’s economy is heavily dependent upon resorts and associated lodging and hospitality. We are always in need of skilled trades, and there is a periodic desire to try and diversify our local economy to be more recession resistant. We all want to earn higher wages. However, when government mandates higher wages, through minimum wage increases for example, the result is inflationary since the cost of doing business and, therefore, goods and services must necessarily increase to cover the higher mandated costs. This is ultimately unsustainable, but when wages increase as the result of economic prosperity, the real wage growth is sustainable — and earners can improve the finances — as their income exceeds costs.

I would love to see a “Marshall Plan” effort to encourage more participation in skilled trades and to aid entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium size businesses. Instead of focusing on TABOR refund equity, let’s offer commercial property tax relief to owners of small and medium size businesses and to landlords who rent to small and medium size businesses. Let’s make for sale workforce housing available directly to local qualifying businesses. Let’s grow our economy in a diversified manner that restores earnings power to the middle class and increases the number of higher paying jobs available.

The state legislature seems intent on engineering our economy and redistributing resources in a fashion that offers little opportunity for individual financial betterment and economic resurgence. Instead of figuring out ways to further undermine TABOR, it would be refreshing to see a 2024 legislative session that focused on helping create economic prosperity and incentivizing workers to fill in-demand higher paying jobs.

Bruce Butler’s column “Common Sense Conversations” publishes biweekly on Tuesdays in the Summit Daily News. Butler is a former mayor and council member in Silverthorne, where he has lived for 20 years. Contact him at butlerincolorado@gmail.com.