We’re not the first to call for a special legislative session to lower property taxes. But we’ll gladly lend our editorial voice to the chorus. And let’s convene it soon. Right after Coloradans reject Proposition HH’s tax hike camouflaged as a temporary tax cut in next week’s election.

Our state’s homeowners – who face massive increases in their property tax bills next spring amid soaring real estate values all along the Front Range – deserve real relief, not HH’s smoke and mirrors. However the state goes about it, it shouldn’t force taxpayers to pay for it out of their own pockets as HH clearly does.

A special session, declared by Gov. Jared Polis, certainly seems like a good way to take up the task. Hold it in December – before the usual drama and distractions of the regular session, which convenes in January. Waiting for the Legislature to act on its own without the mandate of a special session is a dead end in any event. Consider that it was the previous regular session that placed the disingenuous HH on this fall’s ballot.

To recap just for the record, the complicated and convoluted Prop. HH is, among its many fundamental flaws:

• A ripoff for rank-and-file taxpayers because it could grab up to $42.4 billion in surplus revenue collected by the state over the next 20 years, money that otherwise would have to be refunded to taxpayers. That’s nearly double any property tax relief under HH.

• A shell game because the public is being asked to vote for property tax “relief” but would have to give up their tax refunds to pay for it.

• A windfall of play money for the state government – its true motive – because only a fraction of the refunds the state keeps under HH will be shared with affected local governments.

Add to that another rude awakening: Homeowners still will face skyrocketing property tax bills even if HH passes, as the latest analysis by the Common Sense Institute reminds us.

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The think tank, which has been living up to its name with its data-driven insights about the misbegotten ballot issue, released data this week quantifying the toll of higher property taxes. Total state property tax revenue paid next year under Proposition HH is forecast to be $15.3 billion even under HH, with its temporary decrease in the statewide property assessment rate. That’s $1.77 billion above what it would have been had property taxes grown at their historic annual rate of 5.9%. That works out to an additional $742 per Colorado household.

The overall economic impact: a loss in personal income of $425 per household and of more than 14,000 jobs, the institute concluded. To repeat, that’s even if HH’s purported property tax relief were to be in place.

In other words, Prop. HH doesn’t offer much relief when it comes to Coloradans’ property taxes – even as it gouges those same taxpayers by making them give up their refunds of surplus revenue collected above the state’s constitutional spending limits.

Coloradans need property-tax relief that doesn’t force them to foot the bill. Instead, they should be required to fork over less money for their homes in the first place. No subterfuge is required.

Our state lawmakers got it wrong when they ginned up the deceptive Prop. HH last spring in the closing days of the Legislature. Now, it’s time for them to get it right in a special session.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board