Yesterday, the entirety of the Tenth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit, brought by politicians, boards of education, and school districts, attempting to invalidate Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which has served as an effective restraint on unfettered taxing and spending since Coloradans approved it in 1992. The law requires voter approval of tax increases and places reasonable limits on the ability of government to grow unchecked through unrestrained taxing and spending. Revenues collected in excess of what TABOR allows must be returned to taxpayers, unless they vote to allow the government to retain those excess funds.
Anti-TABOR politicians and government boards claimed they have a constitutionally protected right to tax the people of Colorado; worse, they claimed that TABOR, a constitutional amendment passed by the will of those same people of Colorado, violated the politicians’ “right” to tax and deprived lawmakers of a republican form of government. MSLF filed an amicus brief earlier in this case urging the Tenth Circuit to see through the politicians’ charade and dismiss their case, on behalf of itself, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers Foundation, and the TABOR Foundation. And the Tenth Circuit did just that.
“This is a victory for the people and the taxpayers of Colorado,” said MSLF attorney Cody J. Wisniewski. “Politicians do not have a right to tax and they do not have the power to unilaterally override the Colorado Constitution.”
Here is the Tenth Circuit’s en banc opinion. Read our case page here. Read our most recent filing in the case here.
