{"id":39896,"date":"2022-06-21T16:27:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T22:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-taxpayers-could-see-750-refund-checks-this-summer-new-forecast-estimates\/"},"modified":"2022-06-21T22:27:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T22:27:14","slug":"colorado-taxpayers-could-see-750-refund-checks-this-summer-new-forecast-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-taxpayers-could-see-750-refund-checks-this-summer-new-forecast-estimates\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado taxpayers could see $750 refund checks this summer, new forecast estimates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Gov.
Gov. Jared Polis signs Senate Bill 22-238 into law outside the Colorado Capitol on May 16. (Sara Wilson\/Colorado Newsline)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Individual Colorado taxpayers can expect early refund checks of $750 in late summer, while joint filers could see $1,500 checks, according to estimates from an economic forecast released Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The amounts are nearly double the $400 and $800 checks that state officials predicted Coloradans would receive when they first announced the new tax refund policy in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Tuesday\u2019s quarterly economic forecast by nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff anticipates a 21.8% year-over-year increase in state general fund revenue for fiscal year 2021-22, which ends June 30. The state\u2019s general fund mostly consists of revenue from income and sales taxes, and income tax payments \u201cconsiderably surpassed expectations\u201d in 2021 and early 2022.<\/p>\n

A separate June forecast from the governor\u2019s Office of State Planning and Budgeting does not estimate the amount of the refund checks, but a news release<\/a> issued Tuesday says the refunds will be \u201cat least $500.\u201d<\/p>\n

The voter-approved constitutional amendment known as the Taxpayer\u2019s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, requires the state to send surplus revenue back to taxpayers each year. TABOR calculates the annual revenue limit using a formula based on the previous year\u2019s limit plus the rate of inflation and population growth.<\/p>\n

While TABOR has been around for decades, the refund checks heading out in late summer are new. Normally, taxes the state collects above the revenue limit are refunded to taxpayers through one or more of these mechanisms: property tax reimbursements for local governments, an income tax rate reduction and a sales tax refund. These mechanisms are determined, and can be changed, by the Legislature.<\/p>\n

The sales tax refunds for a given year typically are paid out after people file their taxes the next year \u2013 so under normal circumstances, they\u2019d get their refund checks for fiscal year 2021-22 in spring 2023. But lawmakers this year passed Senate Bill 22-233<\/a> to send out part of the TABOR refund early, in summer 2022, through checks to taxpayers. The other refund mechanisms will still be used as usual.<\/p>\n

While SB-233 originally set the early refund amounts at $400 for single-filers and $800 for joint-filers, a last-minute amendment<\/a> in the final days of the legislative session provided the state more flexibility in case the revenue came in higher than had been expected.<\/p>\n

In order to receive a refund check as early as possible, people must file their taxes by June 30, said Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, a Pueblo Democrat who sponsored SB-233 with Sen. Robert Rodriguez of Denver, along with Reps. Tony Exum of Colorado Springs and Lindsey Daugherty of Arvada \u2013 all Democrats. People granted an extension to file at a later date will still receive an early refund check, but it would get sent out in a later batch. For example, someone who filed their taxes in October would probably receive their check in January 2023, Hinrichsen told Newsline.<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, Treasurer Dave Young and legislative leaders said the early checks would help Coloradans weather record-breaking inflation.<\/p>\n

While Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown described the early refund checks as an \u201celection year TABOR flip-flop\u201d by Democrats in the state Legislature and governor\u2019s office, the bill earned considerable support from both sides of the aisle.<\/p>\n

Refunds are constitutionally required \u201cbecause the people of Colorado have overpaid taxes,\u201d state Rep. Kim Ransom, a Lone Tree Republican who serves on the Joint Budget Committee, argued before the House voted May 10 to pass SB-233. \u201cThe people have paid too much because we\u2019ve charged too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legislative Council Staff\u2019s June forecast predicts that economic growth will stagnate in fiscal year 2022-23, with state revenue matching that of the current year. Furthermore, the latest forecast indicates that higher-than-expected cash fund revenue \u2013 mostly severance taxes on oil and gas \u2013 will require larger TABOR refunds than had been budgeted for next year.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Newsline, visit www.coloradonewsline.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amounts are nearly double what state officials predicted in April<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[394,819,28,445,1526],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-taxation-and-budget"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39896"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}