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Our call — vote NO
The measure
This is a citizen-initiated statute. It directs the existing state sales tax revenue collected from sales of sporting goods and equipment into conservation purposes — water, land and forest conservation, wildfire prevention and outdoor recreation — and exempts that revenue from the TABOR state revenue limit, transferring it from the General Fund to a new conservation fund. It changes no tax rate.
What YES does
A YES vote earmarks the sporting-goods sales tax for conservation and removes it from the TABOR limit, so it can no longer be refunded to taxpayers or appropriated to other priorities.
What NO does
A NO vote keeps the revenue in the general budget, subject to the TABOR limit — spent on priorities the legislature chooses annually, or refunded to taxpayers when required.
The math
Legislative Council Staff estimate the transfer at $175.0 million in budget year 2027-28 and $180.2 million in 2028-29, and estimate it reduces TABOR refunds by $175.0 million in tax year 2027 — between $26 and $83 per single filer and $52 and $166 per joint filer. In years when revenue is under the TABOR limit, the money instead comes out of the general budget.
OUR CALL
Our call: NO.
'No new tax' is doing heavy lifting here: the measure keeps $175 million a year that TABOR would otherwise refund, and permanently pre-commits it outside the annual budget process. Conservation and wildfire prevention are legitimate — which is why they can compete for funding inside a capped budget like everything else. A hole in TABOR is a tax increase by retention. NO.
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Sources
- Ballotpedia, List of Colorado ballot measures — https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_Colorado_ballot_measures
- Colorado 2026 State Ballot Information Booklet (Blue Book), Legislative Council Staff, as reproduced in the Colorado 2026 ballot measures guide — https://whipplewood.com/insights/colorado-2026-ballot-measures-guide/
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.