XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.homosexuality, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: colorado@fag.state   
      
   On 19 Nov 2023, Turd Ferguson  posted some   
   news:ujdebg$3sjj0$1@dont-email.me:   
      
   > Dope and queer embracing Colorado deserves every bad thing that   
   > happens to it and they should not be bailed out by the rest of the   
   > nation.   
      
   Pam Giordano and her husband bought their tri-level home nearly 30 years   
   ago. The price sounds almost unbelievable today: $138,000 for a couple   
   thousand square feet of south Denver real estate.   
      
   Since then, the home’s value has nearly quadrupled, according to property   
   tracking websites. But the property tax bill has grown much more slowly —   
   increasing from about $1,100 in the mid-’90s to about $1,900 in the   
   couple’s most recent tax bill.   
      
   Accounting for inflation, their tax burden has actually fallen.   
      
   “Well, it's nice to know that something is down in today's dollars,” said   
   Giordano, 76 years old.   
      
   The Giordanos, like homeowners across Colorado, have been shielded from   
   rising taxes over the last 40 years. Even as the value of their homes rose   
   and rose, state law continuously drove down a major component of   
   residential tax rates across Colorado.   
      
   But that’s changing now.   
      
   A combination of policy and economic changes mean that homeowners across   
   Colorado, for the first time in decades, are facing a sharp increase in   
   their property taxes. In the Giordanos’ case, their home’s taxable value   
   is set to jump 30 percent, which means their annual tax bill could rise by   
   a nearly equal amount, up to about $600.   
      
   “It makes the future a lot more uncertain. Let's face it: We are well   
   beyond our peak earning years,” said Giordano, a mostly retired teacher   
   whose husband is retired from environmental management.   
      
   For the Giordanos, the hike for a single year could nearly equal the   
   increases that they saw over the last three decades combined. The   
   unexpected expense will put more strain on their retirement plan, they   
   said, even with the tax breaks Colorado offers for seniors. They even   
   thought about moving to the suburbs, only to realize that would only cost   
   them more.   
      
   And it’s a common situation, since home values have jumped by 30 percent   
   and more for homeowners across the state in the last couple years.   
      
   That rising financial concern has dominated the state’s politics for the   
   past six months. And now it’s become a political emergency. “We all   
   acknowledge that this is something that is not sustainable and is   
   providing a lot of hurt for people in our communities,” said Senate   
   President Steve Fenberg on Friday morning as the legislature gaveled in   
   for a special session to address the issue.   
      
   Earlier this year, Democrats ran a major ballot measure, Proposition HH,   
   to lower property tax rates and make other changes. And when that failed,   
   Gov. Jared Polis took the unusual step of calling lawmakers back to work   
   to try to pass a fix before the mid-December deadline for locking in next   
   year’s property tax rates.   
      
   They’re likely to cut residential tax rates for the second time in two   
   years. That will reverse some, but not all, of next year’s tax burden   
   increases for homeowners like the Giordanos. Democrats also want to pass   
   tax policies that will benefit lower-income people who may not own   
   property.   
      
   Republicans in the legislature want to see even larger property tax cuts,   
   ones that Democrats say the state can not afford. And conservatives and   
   business leaders outside of the statehouse are hatching plans for far more   
   dramatic changes to the state’s tax system, which could appear on the Nov.   
   2024 ballot.   
      
   “The people of Colorado are asking for relief from property taxes that are   
   going to tax some people out of their homes if we don't fix it,” said Sen.   
   Paul Lundeen, the Republican minority leader.   
      
   But the drive to broadly cut property taxes doesn’t have unanimous   
   support, especially on the left. Progressives are calling for a greater   
   focus on renter relief. And, in some circles, they argue that property tax   
   cuts should be limited to less affluent homeowners, since Colorado’s tax   
   rates are so low already.   
      
   “This across-the-board sort of emergency response to our property taxes …   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)