Property Tax Reform After Prop HH Defeat and the Assault on Rural America

On November 15, 2023, Kim Monson examines the aftermath of Proposition HH’s decisive defeat and what it means for Colorado property tax reform. Former producer Steve Ebling returns to discuss the growing tax burden on homeowners and the special legislative session ahead, while farmer and rancher Trent Loos explains how energy policies, housing costs, and anti-human ideologies threaten rural America and family formation.

Property Tax Crisis and the Path Forward

Start listening at 35:51 – Hour 1

Steve Ebling, Kim’s former producer now enjoying retirement, joins her in studio for a wide-ranging discussion on taxation and the American idea. Ebling frames the conversation around the Declaration of Independence’s promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, noting that while we have life, liberties are under constant attack and happiness is undermined by government taxation.

Ebling presents a revealing 1975 clip of Ronald Reagan on The Tonight Show, where Reagan advocates for tax limitation laws and notes that government at all levels was taking almost half of every dollar earned, compared to just 15 cents when he was a boy. The discussion turns to Colorado’s property tax crisis, where homeowners face 30-50% increases in property valuations due to assessments made at the height of the housing market.

The pair analyzes Proposition HH’s defeat by a nearly two-to-one margin, with Ebling reading quotes from legislators. Democratic leaders expressed disappointment while speaking of themselves as “leaders” rather than representatives. Republican House Minority Leader Mike Lynch stated plainly, “This isn’t political. It’s an ideological fight. It’s property taxes.” Senate minority leader Paul Lundin added, “The people want actual property tax relief, not us paying them with their own refunds.”

“The current system, to me, is arbitrary. It is subjective. It’s not really rooted in anything substantial. And it’s almost like the system is what they want it to be, this ever-increasing taxation and the income.”

– Steve Ebling, Former Producer, The Kim Monson Show

Kim explains that property owners are being taxed on paper gains they haven’t realized, calling it “compound taxation” that could ultimately tax people out of their homes. She connects this to the World Economic Forum’s vision that “by 2030, you will own nothing and be happy,” while noting the $100 million budget of Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and its highly-paid executives who have little incentive to actually solve homelessness.

Energy Policy, Declining Births, and the Anti-Human Agenda

Start listening at 73:25 – Hour 2

Sixth-generation farmer and rancher Trent Loos calls in from Nebraska to discuss concerning trends in energy policy and their downstream effects on American families. Loos reports on Wyoming’s contentious rate case hearing, where Rocky Mountain Power customers testified that the push toward wind and solar is driving rate increases, despite the Sierra Club blaming natural gas.

Loos shares a striking anecdote from Johnson County, Kansas, one of the nation’s most affluent counties. A home builder he met at a conference reported building zero new homes in 2023, instead doing only renovations on existing properties. Homes that once cost $350,000-400,000 now sell for $750,000-800,000, priced beyond reach for most families. This housing crisis connects directly to broader affordability challenges and declining family formation.

The conversation turns to global population trends, with Italy setting records for low birth rates. Loos explains that stress in any species naturally suppresses reproduction as a survival mechanism. When people face uncertainty about affording electricity, housing, or basic necessities, fertility naturally declines. He notes that in 1900, ten acres were needed to feed one person for a year; by 2022, less than a third of an acre sufficed, demonstrating that innovation and management, not population control, solve resource challenges.

“As we continue to have these unnecessary stresses in our life, like will we continue to have affordable, reliable electricity through the winter, that leads to a reduced fertility rate and a population problem, in addition to what we’re doing in abortion. It all adds together, and it is all part of the same thing.”

– Trent Loos, Sixth Generation Farmer and Rancher

Kim and Loos discuss how the breakdown of family values, which accelerated after the 1960s sexual revolution, connects to current challenges. Single-mother births have grown from 40% in 2000 to nearly half of all births today. Loos emphasizes that legislative solutions alone cannot fix these issues. The answer lies in returning to “basic grassroots family values that built this country.” Steve Ebling, listening from the studio, observes that the word “virtue” captures what America has lost over recent decades, and that unvirtuous elites are making decisions for the working and middle class that undermine prosperity and family life.