Whether it’s rising expenses or less taxpayer money coming back to us, Coloradans have ample opportunity to vote our way to more inflation this year.

It’s a pretty mind-boggling phenomenon given how the cost of almost everything is on the rise. As The Wall Street Journal editorialized last week, “Consumer prices overall rose 0.1% in August, after being flat in July. But the decline was almost entirely the result of falling energy prices.”

The Journal explains that, while Americans benefit from lower energy prices (gasoline dropped 10.6% in August), “prices at the pump are still up 25.6% in the last 12 months… The larger problem is that the energy declines weren’t enough to offset price increases across nearly everything else.”

So, in this economic environment, why are there so many ballot measures that will cause a surge in costs?

Take Denver by itself. At a time when residents are clamoring for solutions to the city’s joint crises of unaffordable housing and homelessness, two initiatives threaten to make rent even higher.

Ordinance 305 intends to help renters threatened with eviction by offering free legal advice and defense. This would be financed by taxing landlords at $75 per rental unit per year.

Ordinance 306 is all about shifting more waste from landfills and promoting recycling. Among its multitude of requirements is one mandating that apartment and condo buildings provide recycling and/or composting services.

Let’s be real: Just about every renter in Denver will end up paying for these new programs. Almost without fail, when a new fee is added to a product or service, it is passed onto the consumer. Sometimes it will show up as a line-item on your bill. Other times, they will bake it into the price.

Don’t be surprised when you get that “Tenant Eviction Defense Fee” of $75 tacked onto your initial rent payment or when that new “Recycling Fee” shows up on your monthly bill.

Questions 2J and 2K want Denver to hold onto more of your taxpayer dollars than it’s allowed. In 2020, Denverites approved two new sales taxes at 0.25% – a climate tax for the Climate Protection Fund and a homeless resolution tax for the Homeless Resolution Fund. This year, 2J and 2K would let the city keep revenues from both taxes in excess of limits under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR).

As far as funding climate action initiatives, it seems rather hubristic to think Denver can unilaterally “fight climate change” in the first place, especially in the face of China and India.

Moreover, as I wrote Friday, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Denver has risen 13% since the last homelessness survey despite the city allocating nearly $435 million. “If such consistent spending on homelessness isn’t making a dent, throwing one-time pandemic dollars won’t provide a sustainable, long-term fix, either.”

So, why should Denver taxpayers get less money back – money they can use to, say, help pay their rent – to pursue dubious programs?

“TABOR makes it clear the state government can only keep a certain amount of our money. The rest has to be returned to taxpayers,” said Michael Fields, President of Advance Colorado. “If the government keeps and spends more of our money, it’s a tax hike. It’s money we would otherwise get back to save or spend.”

Absolutely. As I noted back in 2019 – when Gov. Jared Polis and the Democrats were targeting TABOR, long before their recent flip-flop – when government takes more of our hard-earned money, that means there’s less staying in Coloradans’ pockets to spend on our own needs and wants, or to invest in businesses or launch new ventures.

Statewide Proposition 123 suffers from the same problem. The expansive new housing program is said to hold potential for “transformational changes to our Colorado housing market.” While claiming not to raise taxes, it would permit an exception to TABOR’s revenue requirements by letting the state keep 0.1% of annual taxable income annually to finance it. (That 0.1% number might seem small, but it’s $300 million).

Now is not the time for a new tax increase, especially to fund the deeply flawed idea that more government-sponsored affordable housing is the solution to unaffordable housing.

Meanwhile, Colorado businesses are already bracing for the new, catastrophically expensive paid family leave and other upcoming mandates that will severely squeeze businesses as they struggle to boost worker pay amid inflation.

Thanks to Polis and the Democrats, Coloradans are already paying new fees on every Uber and Lyft ride you take and for every food or package delivery you order. Plus, their new gas tax (they call it a “fee”) goes into effect next year.

Thanks to Sen. Michael Bennet, the IRS is getting an $80 billion injection, even as data shows they will target middle-class tax filers. And all that’s on top the general skyrocketing cost of everything.

Make no mistake: Whether it’s ballot initiatives, or politicians like Polis or Bennet, more inflation is on your ballot. Don’t vote for it.

Jimmy Sengenberger is host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” Saturdays from 6-9am on News/Talk 710 KNUS. He also hosts “Jimmy at the Crossroads,” a webshow and podcast in partnership with The Washington Examiner.