Vote Yes on Colorado ii

While we are busy preparing for the 2024 legislative session, the Colorado advocacy team is also weighing in on a ballot measure coming this November to Colorado. 

hero_image===https://assets.nationbuilder.com/yourethecure/pages/39170/attachments/original/1695689899/preschool_kids.jpg?1695689899
hero_image_alt_text===Children in preschool
thumbnail===https://assets.nationbuilder.com/yourethecure/pages/39170/attachments/original/1695689899/preschool_kids.jpg?1695689899
thumbnail_alt_text===Children in preschool

The “YES on ii” campaign, dubbed “Preschool for ALL Coloradans,” will fix a complicated hiccup from the tobacco tax that voters passed in 2020. Because of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) in Colorado, an estimate of taxes collected must be published on ballots. 

If the estimate is low, the excess funds need to either be refunded to the taxpayer (tobacco wholesalers and distributors), or a new ballot question can ask for the state to keep the excess and remove any cap on the tax. 

For the first year of new tobacco tax, the collected amount was about $23 million over the published estimate. Prop ii will ask voters to apply that overage to free preschool, which was an objective of the tobacco tax. An added wrinkle: if Prop ii is voted down, not only will the $23 million be returned to tobacco wholesalers and distributors, but also a permanent reduction of the tobacco tax of 11.53 percent will be imposed. That would put in jeopardy another item the tobacco tax will fund, tobacco prevention and cessation. 

The American Heart Association supports early care and education. Additionally, a no vote would be detrimental to funding tobacco prevention and cessation statewide.

You can find more information on the campaign website: www.preschoolforallcoloradans.com.

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