Talk of property tax cap relies on propoganda

Re: “Colorado must cap how much assessed values can increase by in a given year,” Feb. 19 commentary

Like any good propagandist, everything the president of “Advance Colorado Institute” writes about property taxes is true and, at the same time, is a complete distortion of reality.

He tells us that Colorado’s state budget has “ballooned by 24% over the last five years” from $ 34.5 billion to $ 42.7 billion. Pretty stunning and eye- catching. But please use your browser to access a Consumer Price Index ( CPI) calculator. In doing so you will find that $ 34.5 billion from five years ago is equivalent to $ 41.7 billion today. This means that by adjusting for inflation, the out- of- control growth in the state’s spending over the past five years has increased from $ 41.7 billion to $ 42.7 billion ( a compound rate of 0.475% per year). Not quite so scary.

He continues to attempt to frighten your readers by writing that “residential assessed property values are set to increase by a whopping 26.5% in 2024.” What he doesn’t tell you is that your tax bill is made up of two parts — assessment multiplied by mill levy. If you are concerned about a potentially higher property tax bill, then organize at a local level because property tax mill rates are set locally.

In his attempt to rile up the crowd, he also neglected to mention that Colorado has some of the lowest property tax rates in the nation.

But then propagandists have a habit of concealing facts that do not fit their argument.

— Guy Wroble, Denver