Associated Press: Proposition HH fails

A high-profile state ballot measure that would have weakened Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights while providing some property-tax relief faces, has failed, according to the Associated Press.

Proposition HH was being defeated 60.63% to 39.37% statewide as of 9:07 p.m. with more than 1.23 million votes tabulated. 

Returns from Larimer County reflected the same trend. By the time the county clerk’s office stopped counting votes for the night, just before 11:30 p.m., it had tallied 41,697 votes in favor of the measure and 57,663 opposing it. The measure also was losing big in Weld County, with 42,357 voting against and 17,132 in favor, as of 10 p.m.

Prop. HH, the language of which some have criticized as being confusing or even misleading, was meant to simultaneously achieve a pair of goals: reducing property-tax payments for some homeowners while reforming TABOR, which restricts governments’ abilities to collect tax dollars above certain thresholds. The result, critics of TABOR say, is a handicapping of Colorado’s ability to fund critical programs such as education and public safety. 

Proposition HH’s Democratic supporters, including Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Sen. Stephen Fenberg, D-Boulder, offered an immediate break on property taxes, which have ballooned amid skyrocketing property-value assessments, in exchange for increased government spending authority and a reduction in TABOR refunds offered down the line. Over time, the additional money the government would have been allowed to keep — and use to fund programs and services — was expected to amount to billions of dollars each year. 

Opponents of Prop. HH, including conservative groups and politicians, say the measure is merely the latest in a 30-year effort by progressives to circumvent the will of the politicians and voters who helped put TABOR in place during the early 1990s.

“Prop. HH failed and everyone knew it was headed for defeat,” the Colorado Republican Party said on X after the AP called the race. “The Taxpayer Bill of Rights is still popular and the voters don’t want radical Democrats like Jared Polis violating it. It’s time for real property tax relief but extreme Democrats in the #coleg won’t deliver.” 

Michael Fields with conservative lobbying group Advance Colorado called the proposition a “deceptive measure, crafted in secret, to give Coloradans a huge tax increase wrapped in tiny tax relief.

The measure, critics say, offered a small, short-term benefit to some residents in the form of property-tax relief, while essentially raising taxes in the long term through reductions in TABOR refund payments. 

Colorado Democrats were left licking their wounds on Tuesday, following the defeat of one their signature ballot measures. 

“Prop. HH was a nuanced, balanced policy that appears to have fallen prey to a misinformation slogan campaign by the far right, who would prefer to cut property taxes on the backs of our schools and fire districts,” Fenberg said in a statement. “It’s unclear tonight what the pathway forward is, but it’s clear the answer is not  Initiative 50, (an alternative property tax plan favored by Republicans) which would amend the constitution to permanently reduce funding for schools, fire districts, and libraries.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

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