Proposition NN — A Direct Assault on Family Refunds and the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights
Proposition NN is a ballot measure for Colorado voters to decide in November 2026. It seeks to permanently raise the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights revenue and spending limit by an amount equal to the state's annual K-12 education spending, which is currently about $4.6 billion. This would allow the state to retain and spend surplus revenue that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers. The bill also mandates up to 2% annual increases in K-12 funding for 10 years, funded by these retained surpluses. Proponents frame it as "no new taxes, just redirecting money to schools," but it fundamentally weakens TABOR's core protections. Prop NN is a deceptive power grab that erodes voter-approved fiscal restraints, steals direct refunds from families, and prioritizes government spending over household affordability.
Key Impacts on TABOR Law
- Raises the TABOR Cap Permanently: TABOR limits state revenue growth to inflation + population and requires excess revenue to be refunded to taxpayers. Prop NN carves out a massive new exemption by adding K-12 spending levels to the cap. This new, higher limit becomes the baseline — with no sunset clause. The new formula not only grows every year, but the 2% addition is added back into the formula, compounding the growth rate.
- Bypasses Voter Consent for Future Growth: It sets a dangerous precedent for legislatively defined "exceptions" that legislators can expand, weakening the constitutional requirement for voter approval on tax/spending increases.
- Eliminates or Drastically Reduces Refunds: Instead of returning surpluses directly to Coloradans, the state keeps billions for government programs. Fiscal analyses project hundreds of millions to over $1 billion in lost refunds in early years, with cumulative losses in the billions over a decade.
- Long-Term Erosion: Without strong TABOR enforcement, future legislatures gain more flexibility to grow spending unchecked, reducing accountability and inviting chronic overspending.
Impacts on Families: Lost Refunds and Reduced Affordability
- Direct Loss of TABOR Refunds: Analyses show the average taxpayer could lose over $7,000 in cumulative TABOR refunds over 10 years (2026–27 to 2036–37). These are real dollars returned to families via checks, income tax rate reductions, or credits — money families control for housing, groceries, energy, childcare, and savings.
- Hits Middle-Class and Working Families Hardest: While framed as benefiting schools, the money comes from everyone's overpaid taxes. Lower- and middle-income families rely on these refunds for cost-of-living relief in a high-housing-cost state like Colorado. Losing them reduces disposable income and exacerbates affordability challenges.
- No Guaranteed Taxpayer Savings: The proposal does not cut taxes or guarantee efficiencies. It simply lets government keep more of what it already collects, shifting power and money away from families.
- Broader Economic Drag: Redirecting billions from private hands — where it supports jobs, local businesses, and family budgets — to state bureaucracy is projected to reduce economic growth. Past large refunds have boosted household spending and economic activity; retaining them risks the opposite.
- Opportunity Cost for Families: Funds that could lower effective tax burdens or provide direct relief are instead filtered through government programs with overhead, potential inefficiencies, and less direct accountability to parents and taxpayers.