With another special session looming on the horizon, the biggest issue is an unexpected one: taxes on overtime and tips. The federal government recently eliminated taxes on overtime, clearing the way for working families to earn extra income without the government dipping its hand in. Not one to lose an opportunity to send additional funds to themselves, Colorado’s liberal Legislature passed HB1296, ensuring that, even though the tax breaks passed at the federal level, the state would be guaranteed millions of dollars in revenue — coming directly from working families.

Now, even this isn’t good enough. Now, the Legislature wants to tax Colorado workers’ tips, too. And they want to speed up the timeline for charging these taxes during the special session so they can collect even more money from families even faster.

It’s important to understand the background here. Three years ago, everyone was getting $750 TABOR checks sent to them in the mail. This was the result of a $3.6 billion state surplus. But today, we have no TABOR refunds projected for next year, and the state government claims they’re running at a deficit. What kind of fiscal mismanagement is at play? What policies have transformed billions in surplus into a deficit in three short years?

There are a lot of answers here — including Colorado’s drop in business friendliness and the exodus of citizens and jobs from the state, all leading to less income and sales tax collection. Waste, overspending, and misallocation of funds have been well-documented in Colorado’s budget — and have brought us to this point.

Instead of fixing the core problems and becoming business friendly again (novel idea!), the governor and Legislature would prefer to tax their way out of the problem. Their insistence on taxing overtime and tips is an attempt to increase revenue on the backs of working families. We’re talking about delivery drivers, hairdressers, waitresses, first responders, and health-care professionals — people who are the backbone of our economy and our society. When times get tough, the liberals’ solution is to tax these people more.

Historically, state taxes have always been tied to federal taxes. But Democrats in the Legislature want to decouple that, specifically for overtime and tips.

HB1296, their first run at this anti-worker policy, is also unconstitutional, as it violates TABOR. Any tax policy that results in a net revenue increase has to go to voters. And since HB1296 doesn’t take effect until the 2026 tax year, it’s going to create a net revenue increase for the state. At that point, the federal tax break on overtime and tips will have already taken effect. The legislature did an intentional end run around TABOR, targeting some of Colorado’s most vulnerable taxpayers.

And now, instead of tightening purse strings and making appropriate cuts, these same liberals who claim to support working families are planning to increase their tax burden during the special session. Put simply, no relief is in sight for people who are barely making ends meet. This is deeply out of touch. In the latest poll, 73% of Americans support exempting overtime and tips from taxes.

While liberals in the Legislature don’t want to listen to their constituents, we at Advance Colorado are working hard to elevate the people’s voice. We’ve proposed a new ballot measure to exempt overtime and tips from state taxes, no matter what the federal government does.

Instead of blaming budgetary problems on working families, Colorado should allow our workers to keep more money in their own pockets. When it’s a choice between funding the government and funding families, the choice is clear: working families should come first.

Michael Fields is president of Advance Colorado.