A Colorado conservative group filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the Secretary of State and Gov. Jared Polis on Monday, difficult a law passed by the legislature two years ago that requires tax-cutting poll measures warn voters in regards to the potential influence of misplaced income.
Advance Colorado, along with a number of particular person residents, argue that the legislation violates the First Modification and forces teams selling sure poll measures to just accept language that the teams could disagree with. Advance Colorado has been accepted to collect signatures for 2 tax-cutting poll measures this yr, and it argued that the warning label it should current to voters doesn’t precisely replicate the influence these tax cuts would have on state funding.
The legislation handed in 2021, and it requires that any poll measure that proposes to chop taxes additionally embody language noting that the proposal would cut back state funding for particular applications like training or well being care. One in every of Advance Colorado’s initiatives, for example, would minimize the gross sales tax. State regulators required the initiative to notice that, if handed, it might “scale back funding for state expenditures that embody however aren’t restricted to training, well being care coverage and financing, and better training by an estimated $17.7 million in tax income.”
However Advance Colorado argued that its initiative gained’t harm any state applications as a result of it’s effectively inside the Taxpayer’s Invoice of Rights’ refund threshold, which means it’s extra cash that gained’t contact the state funds.
Supporters of the legislation have solid it as an try to clarify to voters the influence of tax cuts. However opponents say it’s an try to mislead.
“Politicians on the Capitol have unconstitutionally stacked the deck in opposition to citizen-driven poll initiatives that scale back taxes,” Michael Fields, the president of Advance Colorado, mentioned in a press release, “and Advance Colorado is suing to make sure that poll initiatives generated by residents are described precisely on the poll and never topic to compelled speech or government-enforced lies.”
A Polis spokesman declined to touch upon pending litigation Tuesday morning. A spokeswoman for Secretary of State Jena Griswold didn’t instantly return a message looking for remark.
