Gov. Jared Polis and his Democratic allies at the state Capitol tasted defeat on Tuesday, following the landslide loss of a measure that sought to offer property tax relief by using Taxpayer’s of Bill of Rights refund dollars.

Unofficial results showed the property tax measure losing by 61% to 39% as of 10 p.m. Tuesday night.

Here are a few takeaways:

Voters don’t like complicated ballot measures

One of the biggest knocks against Proposition HH was how hard it was to understand. It didn’t help that both sides engaged in less-than-factual advertising on the measure, according to observers. Even the General Assembly’s Blue Book, which is supposed to make the measure understandable, ran to 12 pages in discussing the proposal.

Ballotpedia rated the measure, using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test, at 26, one level below the highest available – meaning it was very difficult to read and “best understood by university graduates.”  

Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute, one of the measure’s opponents, submitted a ballot measure to the state’s title board that was nearly identically to Proposition HH – to prove, according to him, that HH was deceptively worded. The title board called his ballot measure’s language misleading and inappropriate. Submitted to the voters by Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly, Proposition HH did not have to go through the title board.

Voters don’t like Democrats messing with TABOR refunds

While voters put Democrats in charge of statewide public policy, they’ve taken a dim view of their efforts to cut TABOR refunds.

Indeed, voters don’t have a problem with increasing marijuana or tobacco taxes, or even sports betting – the so-called “sin” taxes. But mess with TABOR refunds, no matter how noble the claimed rationale is, and voters say “no.”

Take Proposition CC in 2019, for example. That measure, also referred to voters largely by Democrats, asked for permission to keep TABOR revenue above the TABOR cap. The ballot groups’ spending overwhelmingly favored Proposition CC. It didn’t matter. Voters rejected the measure by 7 percentage points.

Ballotpedia noted that since the passage of TABOR in 1992, Colorado voters have rejected 25 out of 36 statewide ballot measures designed to increase state revenues, which would have implicated TABOR. 

So, what now? 

Perhaps the biggest question of all is what Polis and his allies do next about property taxes.

The governor said he is considering “next steps.”

The options are to wait until January, which raises worries that property tax increases will hit Coloradans’ wallets before the legislature would have time to act. The alternative is to convene a special session. 

A special session is allowed under state law to deal with specific issues. The governor usually calls for it, although the laws allow lawmakers to do so themselves. Special sessions usually last no more than three days, the minimum time it takes for a bill to get through both chambers of the legislature. 

Polis has said he had no alternative to Proposition HH, although Republican lawmakers have twice asked him to call a special session, most recently a week ago, when they predicted the measure would go down in flames. 

Polis has called for a special session just once since taking office. That session in December 2020 dealt with the COVID crisis.