A rumor making the rounds (including here) is that Proposition CC will eliminate long-cherished property tax exemptions for seniors and disabled military veterans, if it passes on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Not so, say experts such as state Treasurer Dave Young and the state economists who wrote a fiscal analysis of the measure. 

Among the reasons: Proposition CC is a statutory measure that seeks to change state law, not the state Constitution. However, the property tax exemptions for seniors and disabled veterans came about from voter approval of not one, but two constitutional measures.

Proposition CC’s language doesn’t even mention those property tax exemptions.

Proposition CC would allow the state to keep all the taxes it collects every year.

Money that would otherwise go out in the form of a refund under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), would instead be retained and split into three pots: one for transportation, another to K-12 schools and the third to higher education. 

Since 2000, the counties have excused property taxes for up to 50% of the first $200,000 in home value for seniors of at least 65 years old who have lived in their homes for at least 10 years, or to their surviving spouses. In 2006, disabled veterans were added to those who could get their property taxes at least partially excused.  

That’s the result of Referendum A, a constitutional amendment that changed Article X, and which voters approved by a 54.7% to 45.2% margin in 2000. The 2006 amendment that expanded the exemption to disabled veterans, Referendum E, won overwhelming approval that year. 

The language of Proposition CC, which is a statutory change, meaning it changes state law but NOT the Colorado Constitution, doesn’t mention either the property tax exemption for seniors or the one for disabled veterans, Young said Friday.

The program is administered by the Department of Local Affairs, but the state treasurer is responsible for cutting the checks to the counties that forgive those property taxes.

So why is this an issue? Because TABOR surplus dollars have sometimes covered the property tax exemptions in the past.

If voters approve Proposition CC, the TABOR refund — which has taken place only nine times in the last 26 years — goes away. The property tax exemptions for seniors and disabled veterans would instead be paid from the General Fund, which is supplied primarily by sales, corporate and individual income taxes.

That’s explained in a fiscal note that was written for the Blue Book, the publication sent to voters to explain ballot measures. 

The Blue Book fiscal note states: “Because the TABOR surplus will not be available to fund the [senior and disabled veteran] property tax exemptions, these obligations will be funded from General Fund revenue.”

There’s sufficient revenue already expected to cover the 2019-20 and 2020-21 exemptions, so the General Fund wouldn’t be tapped until the following year, the fiscal note explains.

The measure also doesn’t affect tax refunds that people receive when overpaying state taxes and which come from filing their annual tax returns, despite some of the rhetoric against the ballot measure.