TABOR refunds currently being mailed to Coloradans ahead of the November gubernatorial election will also include a personal letter from Governor Jared Polis produced at the taxpayer’s expense.
In an interview with Colorado Public Radio’s Ryan Warner that published this morning, Warner asks Polis a number of questions surrounding the cynical nature of sending out TABOR checks three months before the midterm election.
In response to a question where Warner says he is playing ‘cynic’ on the issue of election year politics, Polis tells Warner “there will be a note from me” contained in the TABOR mailing.
In a follow up question, Warner pushes Polis by asking, “The note that will come with the check, is that a little icky in a midterm election year?”
Polis has been widely criticized for playing politics with Coloradans’ refunds and the situation was appropriately summarized by a Colorado Politics headline yesterday that read, “After working to undermine TABOR for decades, Polis, Democrats now tout tax refund”.
The transcript of the interview with Polis is below:
Warner: To continue to play the cynic, will your name appear anywhere on the check, the envelope or enclosed letter?
Polis: That’s a good question. I think in a mock-up check we had earlier, it was signed by the comptroller, the treasurer — those two people sign checks. There will be a note from me explaining what this is,and websites and phone numbers for people to call.
The most important thing is not so much the people that get it; they will be happy, they will cash. Everybody who filed taxes for 2021 should get one. There will probably be 2 percent that moved or the mail got lost — You don’t lose out on your $750. That’s the main message I want to send. If you don’t get it by the end of August, go to coloradocomebackcash.com and you can make sure that you get it.
Now, if you haven’t filed taxes for 2021 — and of course, if you earn an income, you better have filed taxes for 2021 because it’s a legal requirement. But if you didn’t have any taxable income, you might not have filed for 2021. You actually still can: You can file by October 17th and you’ll get [the check] hopefully by Christmas. The Department of Revenue says by January, but our goal is to get those out by Christmas for anybody who hasn’t filed yet.
Warner: The note that will come with the check, is that a little icky in a midterm election year?
Polis: Well, it just explains the basics of why people are getting the check. There’s a lot of people who don’t know this is coming and so they have to make sure this is not like some loan. It’s in fact a refund check. People have to know it’s not a scam; It’s legit. I mean, people need to cash this check. This is serious. This is important. This is needed.
I would add that many of the tax cuts and fee reductions we did in the legislature actually don’t take effect till ’23, ’24. Our biggest one was the property tax cut; That is for ’23 and ’24. It was a two-year property tax cut.
**UPDATE**
Colorado GOP Chair Kristi Burton Brown has issued a statement saying the Colorado GOP will file a campaign finance complaint over the letter 🔥
| Statement from Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown: “This is the definition of using taxpayer dollars for personal benefit. Jared Polis, Dave Young, and Democrats in the legislature are lying to Coloradans and trying to take credit for TABOR, a policy they have spent years trying to repeal and destroy. We will be filing a campaign finance complaint because this taxpayer funded letter is indistinguishable from a campaign mailer.” |