Colorado will have to find some other money: TABOR isn’t changing this year

Colorado will not vote on changing the Taxpayer Bill of Rights this fall, the Colorado Independent reports. That means that, for now, the state will continue giving tens of millions of dollars per year back to taxpayers instead of spending it on services and infrastructure.

TABOR is a massive, complicated thing. At its most basic, it says the Colorado government can only collect so much money per year. One of its effects: Colorado has fallen behind in education spending even as the state has boomed. (Read our explainer here.)

The ballot proposal, backed by Colorado Priorities, would have allowed Colorado to hang on to more money over the next decade. With bipartisan support, the plan was to spend it on roads, education and other services.

But it won’t be on the ballot this year, the Independent reports, because the organizers worried they couldn’t compete with 10 other ballot measures and a presidential election.