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Good news on revenues means more money coming back to residents BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN Colorado taxpayers will be sent even larger refund checks next year than expected after state tax revenues nished the scal year much higher than budget analysts for the legislature and in the governor’s ofce predicted.
e state may now have to refund nearly $1 billion more than originally expected, nonpartisan Legislative Council Sta and the governor’s Ofce of State Planning and Budgeting told state lawmakers in June, increasing refund checks by hundreds of dollars per person.
Exactly how large those Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refund checks will be remains in ux, in part because the number will be determined by whether voters pass Proposition HH in November, a 10-year property tax relief plan from Democrats in the General Assembly and Gov. Jared Polis. e legislature passed a bill in the nal three days of its 2023 lawmaking term, which ended May 8, that would make the refund check amounts the same for everyone if voters pass Proposition HH. ey were originally expected to be about $650 for single lers and roughly $1,300 for joint lers, but could now be roughly $850 for single lers and $1,700 for joint lers.
Last year, Colorado taxpayers received TABOR refund checks of $750 or $1,500 to account for surplus collected in the 2021-22 scal year, which ended June 30, 2022.
If Proposition HH fails, the refund checks would be tied to income levels. Under the default refund system — called the six-tier sales tax refund mechanism — people who make more money get bigger refund checks based on which of six income tiers they fall into.
People in the lowest tier, who make up to $50,000 a year, were expected to receive refund checks of $454 for single lers or $908 for
The interior of the Colorado Capitol. PHOTO BY OLIVIA SUN / THE COLORADO SUN VIA REPORT FOR AMERICA joint lers. For those in the highest tier, who make $279,001 or more, the checks were expected to be $1,434 for single lers and $2,688 for joint lers. from LCS and OSPB. While the end of the scal year is fast approaching, it will be months before the state knows exactly how much money it collected over the TABOR cap.
