Colorado Initiative to Cut Property Taxes Qualifies for Ballot

The Colorado secretary of state has certified a ballot initiative that would reduce valuation rates for property tax assessment purposes.

Initiative 27 would reduce the residential property valuation rate to 6.5 percent from 7.15 percent and reduce the nonresidential property valuation rate to 26.4 percent from 29 percent.

According to an August 26 statement by the secretary of state's office, backers submitted192,562 signatures. Using a random sample of 5 percent of the signatures, the elections division determined that 138,567 of the signatures are valid, exceeding the minimum of 124,632 valid signatures needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot. 

“We brought this initiative because property values have been going up so fast in Colorado — and property taxes with them,” Michael Fields, executive director of Colorado Rising State Action, told Tax Notes.