Another end around play to bypass the will of the voters

Re: “TABOR died and that’s (mostly) a good thing,” June 13 editorial

Historically our state’s lawmakers muddied their waters with deception. Voters have every right to demand clarity of language and legislative purpose when we are asked by state officials to dig into our pocketbooks and pay more for fuel, or for an Uber or Lyft ride.

Our state lawmakers have a thematic issue, a legal concern and a credibility problem when they claim; charging a “fee” to people is a separate kind of money from what we pay as “taxpayers” for exactly the same good or service. Politically coercive ambition is what gave birth to our state’s “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” (TABOR) in 1992.

The Denver Post claiming TABOR has died is predictable, wishful, leftist thinking.

We, the taxpayers, pay our state’s bills with our money. We will not turn away from fiscal responsibility given clearly defined revenue needs that are supported by facts over persuasion.

We all know without the “cuffs of TABOR,” our state, in short order, would become more like California, New York and Illinois than Texas or Florida.

Forrest Monroe, Aurora

In Amendment 117 voters reaffirmed their TABOR right to approve taxes while trying to allow the legislature flexibility and not micro-manage small “enterprises.”

Now we have a gas fee on top of a gas tax that are functionally indistinguishable except that one will weasel through a loophole in the amendment.

This is why people get disgusted with politicians — they should respect the intent of the voters and allow them to vote on tax increases (which I, in fact, support). The legislators should be ashamed of themselves.

Peter Sanford, Englewood