Keystone eyes exemption from revenue and spending limits under TABOR, lodging tax with ballot measures
The town of Keystone has launched a community poll to gauge opinions on two measures that may be placed on voters’ ballots in November.
The first would seek to exempt the town from revenue and spending limits currently in place under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, a 1992 voter-approved amendment to the state constitution that placed a cap on how much revenue Colorado governments can take in. When government’s breach that cap, the excess money must be refunded to taxpayers.
In the years since the amendment’s passage, a vast majority of local municipalities and counties have since “de-Bruced” — a nod to the amendment’s author Douglas Bruce — by asking voters to opt-out of the revenue cap. According to Bell Policy Center, 51 of Colorado’s 64 counties and 230 of its 274 municipalities have de-Bruced. A cap remains in place on state government revenue.
Another ballot question would ask voters to reinstate a 2% lodging tax that was in place before Keystone’s incorporation and expired earlier this summer. The tax had been levied by the Summit County government after voters approved the tax increase for unincorporated areas, meaning those that are outside town limits.
https://www.summitdaily.com/news/keystone-ballot-measures-community-poll/