As numerous Colorado newspapers uncritically reported in their May 10 editions, in announcing his intention to sue the state over legislation that would freeze mill levy rates, Independence Institute president Jon Caldara likened the measure to “fiscal date rape.” Caldara made the same analogy during the May 9 broadcast of his Newsradio 850 KOA radio program, stating, “What Ritter and pals are doing is the equivalent of fiscal date rape.”

As Colorado Media Matters noted, the Rocky Mountain News reported May 9 that Caldara intended to sue over a plan proposed by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and contained in Senate Bill 199 that would freeze property tax, or mill levy, rates as a means of redistributing sources of public education funding. Under current state law, mill levy rates must decrease as property values increase in order to prevent property taxes from increasing. Ritter signed SB 199 into law on May 9.

Opponents of the plan, including Caldara, have contended that under Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR), voters of school districts who would have higher property taxes resulting from increased property values must explicitly authorize the school district to collect the higher tax. In fact, the mill levy freeze provisions apply only to school districts that have voted to allow the retention of mill levy revenues above the TABOR limits set in “section 20 of article X of the state constitution.”

From the May 9 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Jon Caldara Show:

CALDARA: What Ritter and pals are doing is the equivalent of fiscal date rape. They are taking the money without asking you first. That's funny: I could've sworn, I could've sworn we had a constitution to protect us about that.

From the article “Ritter signs school finance bill despite threat of lawsuit” in the May 10 edition of The Pueblo Chieftain:

While Ritter and other supporters say the freeze doesn't constitute a tax increase, opponents challenge that not asking voter approval before freezing the mill rates is a violation of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, a tax and spend limiting amendment approved by voters in 1993.

As a result, Jon Caldara, president of the free-market think tank Independence Institute, promised a lawsuit will be filed before too long.

“This has absolutely nothing to do with the money, it has to do with asking voters before a tax increase,” Caldara said. “That's the insult here. The idea that the state's going to get $1.7 billion in the next decade without asking first is just an absolute affront to the citizens of Colorado.”

Ritter, however, said 175 school districts have already approved the change when they, one by one, voted to exempt themselves from the provisions of TABOR over the past decade.

The governor said freezing the tax rate is necessary in order for those voters to get what they asked for, to allow their school districts to keep more of the property taxes they pay.

Under the current School Finance Act, which was written in 1994 in an effort to comply with TABOR, those school districts were never actually able to keep those local property taxes.

As a result, the state has been forced to back fill an increasing amount of money for public schools, depleting the education fund in the process, the governor said.

To opponents, however, suggest that voters actually meant to freeze their property tax rates when they opted out of TABOR is nonsense, Caldara said, adding that if the governor believes there's so much support for the idea, why not place it before voters.

“It's not the very same thing by any means,” Caldara said. “This is money that's going to be going into state coffers, and if there's that widespread support of this idea, then why not do the citizens the common decency of asking the voters? Basically what we've got here is a case of fiscal date rape. We want the money, but we don't want to ask.”

From the article “Court fight may be next: Springs-area districts get cash, but critics say measure illegal” in the May 10 edition of The Gazette of Colorado Springs:

Jon Caldara, president of the conservative Independence Institute, said he's gearing up a legal team to sue the state over the plan in the coming weeks. Caldara claimed that because the bill represents a major change in tax policy that will increase tax revenues, the constitution requires voter approval.

“This is fiscal date rape,” Caldara said. “They're taking the money and they're not asking first.”

From the article “Ritter bill set to add to PSD funds: Measure, which would freeze some property tax rates, likely headed for challenge” in the May 10 edition of the Fort Collins Coloradoan:

Jon Caldara, president of the conservative Independence Institute think tank, has already said he plans to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new law.

"This is basically fiscal date rape. This is about asking the people first," Caldara said.

From the article “Ritter signs School Finance Act into law: Conservative think-tank vows to sue, seeking voter approval” in the May 10 edition of The Durango Herald:

Jon Caldara, president of the conservative Independence Institute think tank, said he plans to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new law. He said it's a tax hike that needs to go to voters.

"This is basically fiscal date rape. This is about asking the people first," Caldara said.

From the article “Mill-levy freeze signed into law” in the May 10 edition of The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction:

Jon Caldara, president of the conservative Independence Institute think tank, told the Associated Press he plans to mount a constitutional challenge to the governor's mill-levy freeze.

He said Senate Bill 199 should go to voters under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.

"This is basically fiscal date rape," Caldara said. “This is about asking the people first.”