(DENVER) – Colorado Senator-elect Lois Court announced she wishes her taxes were higher, in a Joint Budget Committee meeting earlier this week. She also added she believes many of her constituents would also like to be paying higher taxes. During the revenue forecast and strategic planning session, a discussion of Colorado’s Gallagher Amendment and projections of property tax revenue prompted the following exchange:

Sen Kevin Lundberg: Thank you Mr. Chair, just a brief observation, I do agree the Gallagher Amendment does hogtie the system significantly. But, I would observe that with the increased valuations of property overall, you would be hard pressed to find a homeowner who: a) their property tax is going to go down, or even hold steady or b) thinks their property tax is not high enough. 

Sen-elect Lois Court: Thank you Mr. Chair, well I for one do think my property values are higher than the taxation, and I think my property taxes should be higher. [emphasis added] So I will just slightly disagree, and I know many of my constituents feel the same way.

As many Colorado families struggle to provide for basic necessities this holiday season, they would be surprised to know they are represented at the state capitol as wanting to pay even higher taxes. Although Senator-elect Court will be new to the Senate next year representing Senate District 31, she is no stranger in the halls of the capitol where she has served the last years 8 years as a state Representative from House District 6 and in various leadership roles within the Democrat caucus.

“We’re certainly aware Democrats want us all to be paying higher taxes, however they rarely will go so far as to declare it out loud,” said Kelly Maher, executive director of Compass Colorado. “Hopefully Coloradans will push back against Lois Court acting as the Grinch the week before Christmas and tell her we’re better stewards of our own money than the government.” 
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This exchange took place at 9:40am on December 20, 2016 (link for context and fact-checking). For radio producers, a link to the download can be found here.

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