Proposition LL – Debruce from Prop FF Revenue Limits

In 2022 Colorado voters passed Prop FF to “support healthy meals for public school students.”

The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires Colorado to estimate the revenue that will be collected from new or increased taxes, to refund any revenue collected above the estimate, and to prevent over-collection in future years by reducing the tax. However, TABOR also allows tax-imposing jurisdictions to get permission from voters to keep and spend excess revenue – known as debrucing, after Douglas Bruce, the author of TABOR. https://bellpolicy.org/what-is-debrucing/

Prop LL asks voters to debruce Colorado from Prop FF’s revenue limits.

Recommendation: YES

This website has long been in favor of deBrucing. Requiring the state to return collected money and to ratchet down tax rates (while not allowing the state to ratchet up tax rates when needed) is unnecessarily bureaucratic and substantially limits Colorado’s fiscal flexibility. No other state has adopted a TABOR-like measure.

Website for the Yes Side
Keep Kids Fed Colorado – https://www.yesonllandmm.com/

Website for the No Side
No known dedicated website – Info on an opponents’ website appreciated.


Approved Ballot Language
Proposition LL (STATUTORY)

Without raising taxes, may the state keep and spend all revenue generated by the 2022 voter-approved state tax deduction limits on individuals with incomes of $300,000 or more and maintain these deduction limits in order to continue funding the healthy school meals for all program, which pays for public schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students in kindergarten through twelfth grade?

YES/FOR ___
NO/AGAINST ___

HB25-1274 (Section 2) to refer Proposition LL to the voters
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1274