Tax payment is a compulsory civil duty for every citizen of a country, whether a business owner, a civil servant, a salary earner, or self-employed. Taxation contributes to essential services and infrastructure of society.

However, in the case of Colorado, several reports have it that taxpayers in Colorado will receive a huge amount of $67 million in tax refunds. This comes as a result of errors in accounting, which took a large sum of $67 million more than necessary.

Taxpayers in the United States should expect a big refund. Colorado is not the only state involved; taxpayers throughout the country should expect to benefit from the refund.

Over $1 billion will be refunded to all US taxpayers. This is a refund from the Internal Revenue Service for the tax year ending 2021, in addition to the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit.

TABOR, which stands for Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, is a body in charge of limiting government spending, inflation, and population growth. It is also in charge of tax refunds for excess revenue.

TABOR also gives taxpayers the power to control how their money is spent and promotes responsible financial practices.

The tax error comes from a health insurance company in Colorado. The health insurance was established in 2020 to see more affordable health benefits for the residents.

The company made a mistake in handling the funds received under TABOR, which left Colorado taxpayers with a total sum of $67 million.

To fund and support the health insurance affordability enterprise, Colorado residents with state-regulated insurance plans pay a 2% tax.

Initially, it wasn’t clear if this money should be included in the TABOR limit. However, the Attorney General’s office clarified that it should be counted towards TABOR limits. This brings about transparency to financial regulations.

One of the main challenges is that the Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise gets its money from the state general fund. This creates a problem because the government cannot transfer funds and label them as a tax-exempt fee.

This generated apprehension about the efficient handling of funds and compliance with TABOR regulations. This explains efficiency and accountability to financial management.

Another challenge to this error is that the Colorado budget for 2025 has already been signed before it can be considered.
This explains that the $67 million tax refund will have to be accounted for from the newly signed budget, which is quite complicated. However, this was not taken into consideration before the signed budget.

According to reports, the total budget approved by the Senate for Colorado’s 2025 budget amounts to $41 billion. This whole amount is in addition to the $67 million tax refund.

The bill includes an extra $2 billion that will be shared for purposes in different sectors. Some of the beneficiaries of the extra spending include education, affordable housing, healthcare, and public safety.

This issue has attracted public interest. While the government is still investigating how to solve it, the Joint Budget Committee has made some suggestions.

They recommended two options: to eliminate the insurance premium to the Health Insurance Affordability. The other recommendation is a temporary reduction of the general fund reserve.

When we talk about eliminating the insurance premium to the Health Insurance Affordability, this means that the insurance premium revenue will flow to the General Fund.

In return, a general refund will be available to ensure the payout of an increased TABOR refund obligation. If this is done, only about $33 million will be available.

As for the temporary reduction of the general fund reserve, this will help release funds to pay up the under-refunds from previous years.

However, if this approach is considered, it might disrupt the already planned budget for 2025.

According to Senator Jim Smallwood, he has a different perspective, which is contradictory. He suggested that it does not make sense for an administration that prioritizes lowering health care to consider raising taxes on health insurance premiums.

He further says that even if they consider it, it still would not generate enough money to cover the shortfalls immediately.

The government of Colorado opposes increasing health insurance premiums. The Republicans, in particular, oppose raising this tax because they believe that the public already pays a sufficient amount for healthcare.

The $67 million will eventually be returned to taxpayers, although it is now unclear how this can be accomplished while keeping an eye on the budget.