Colorado Legislative Session Ends With Property Tax Gimmicks and Government Growth

On May 14, 2024, Kevin Lundberg joined the show. Analyzed the 2024 Colorado legislative session, exposing Senate Bill 233 as a property tax gimmick that provides temporary relief while overall tax burdens continue to rise, and criticized bipartisan support for rushed legislation

Eminent Domain Threatens Polizzi Farm

Start listening at 07:30 – Hour 1

Kim Monson reported on her attendance at a standing-room-only hearing in Brighton regarding Polizzi Farm, where a metropolitan district seeks to use eminent domain to run an easement through the middle of the family farm. The move would likely render the operation unviable. Kim highlighted the troubling conflict of interest: three of the metro district directors are also among the six developers of the adjacent parcel. The city of Brighton granted eminent domain powers to the district ostensibly for flood control, but Kim argued the real driver is accommodating the new development’s drainage needs.

Attendees filled overflow rooms, representing diverse backgrounds united in opposition. Kim observed the irony of government buildings requiring strict security while those same officials support sanctuary policies that leave borders unsecured.

Colorado Ranks Third in Violent Crime

Start listening at 10:30 – Hour 1

Kim cited U.S. News and World Report statistics ranking Colorado as the third most dangerous state in America, driven primarily by property crimes including burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. She attributed the troubling ranking to failed public policy decisions.

2024 Legislative Session Aftermath

Start listening at 15:00 – Hour 1

Kevin Lundberg, former state senator and author of the Lundberg Report, characterized the session as a cacophony that advanced the progressive agenda while providing mere crumbs of relief to taxpayers. House Bill 1075, which would have established mechanisms for socialized medicine, died only because leadership feared political accountability.

Lundberg explained that the widely touted property tax relief in Senate Bill 233 amounts to a shell game. The bill passed 35-0 in the Senate and 62-1 in the House, with Republicans joining Democrats despite the Colorado Union of Taxpayers warning it was too convoluted for review in the final three days of session. The lone dissenting vote came from a Democrat who wanted even more government spending.

“They call it a property tax reduction, but it really isn’t. It’s slowing it down just a little bit, but if you compare the property taxes you paid two years ago to what you’re going to pay next year, it’s going to be higher next year than what it was before all of these outrageous increases occurred.”

Kevin Lundberg, Former Colorado State Senator

Progressive Taxation and Shared Misery

Start listening at 25:00 – Hour 1

The discussion turned to the legislature’s embrace of progressive taxation, which Lundberg connected directly to Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Rather than creating shared prosperity, such policies produce shared misery by destroying the incentives that drive free market success. TABOR refunds are being restructured rather than taxes genuinely reduced.

Lundberg urged current and future legislators to resist herd mentality, noting that leadership intentionally rushes major legislation to avoid scrutiny. The governor’s tax-cutting rhetoric contradicts his actions, including a new fee on oil and gas production to fund passenger rail projects.

“Whenever you do that, it’s not shared prosperity. It’s shared misery because you’re taking out those very important factors within a free market system where it incentivizes everybody to work hard, to look after their own.”

Kevin Lundberg, Former Colorado State Senator

Rail Projects and Federal Dependency

Start listening at 35:00 – Hour 1

Kim and Lundberg examined the push for passenger rail, funded by fees extracted from the struggling oil and gas industry. Kim pointed out that Coloradans vote daily with their cars, preferring personal mobility despite highway congestion. With the federal government adding a trillion dollars in debt every 100 days, seeking federal matching funds raises serious moral questions about burdening future generations.