Colorado is quickly becoming one of the least affordable states in the country, particularly for housing. Property tax initiatives 50 and 108 claim to be the solution — but they could threaten access to resources property taxes help pay for like public K-12 school funding; public libraries; public healthcare, particularly in rural areas; safe roads and infrastructure and more than 70% of all fire departments across the state because they are property tax-funded fire districts.

Initiative 50 would cap property tax revenue at 4% growth statewide — regardless if revenue grows or shrinks in different counties at the same time — and would require statewide voter approval if property tax revenue is projected to increase by more than 4%. Initiative 108 would lower residential property valuation assessments to 5.7% of the actual value.

Both would require the state to be on the hook for paying for cuts. Initiative 108 would require the state to completely backfill lost local government revenue, and Initiative 50 would require the state to backfill school district budgets only. Almost half of Colorado’s total budget for schools comes from local property taxes, so that would require the state to almost double its allocation to schools.

If Initiatives 50 and 108 pass on the ballot this November, the state will face a budget crisis of massive proportions. Higher education could become more privatized, community college tuition could skyrocket, and hospitals with large populations of Medicaid and Medicare patients — mostly rural hospitals — would lose state reimbursements that allow them to continue operating. Furthermore, prisons, courts, foster care, and behavioral health centers would see their budgets slashed.

Proponents of these reckless measures argue that the state could dip into its General Fund reserves to offset any budget cuts that result from property tax revenue loss. But using our rainy day fund for tax cuts would be fiscal negligence. Our 15% General Fund reserve is $2.2 billion this year, which wouldn’t even cover the $3 billion estimated cost for one year of 108 backfill. We’ve seen numerous cases of deep tax cuts like these resulting in budget crises across the country.

Take Kansas, for example. When a $900 million budget hole opened in 2017 as a result of deep tax cuts made five years prior, the threat to the viability of its schools and infrastructure became so great that the legislature voted to reverse them. And unlike Kansas, Colorado can’t reverse any tax cuts because of TABOR.

It’s possible to soften the blow of skyrocketing property values without making permanent, destructive cuts or dipping into our rainy day fund. In the last two years the legislature has passed cuts to property taxes through assessment rate decreases that have saved the average Colorado homeowner $550. But the bipartisan package of tax cuts won’t take effect if Initiatives 50 and 108 pass.

Voters should say no to irresponsible and irreversible tax cuts like Initiatives 50 and 108.

Caroline Nutter is the legislative coordinator at the Colorado Fiscal institute. She researches and analyzes state fiscal policy issues and advocates for policies that bring equity and prosperity to all Coloradans.