Elections 2023: Prop II: Should tobacco sales taxes fund Colorado preschoolers?

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash.

Back in 2020, Proposition EE was approved, which increased the taxes on tobacco and nicotine products. Especially prior to that, vaping products had not really been taxed. Much of that was going to be used for preschools. The idea, in part, was that the more you tax things like cigarettes or alcohol, the less people will want to use them if they are too costly. According to Colorado Sun Correspondent Sandra Fish, that is not what happened. The money from this tax that people approved three years ago actually generated more money – roughly $24 million more in the past year.

That’s where Proposition ii comes in. If approved, it would allow the state to keep those millions of extra tax dollars and allocate them to the state’s Universal Preschool program, which is the current primary recipient of Proposition EE funds.

This measure requires voter approval under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), since it was designed to raise state revenue by letting the state retain more than was initially projected for Proposition EE.

For more on Proposition ii, KGNU’s Sam Fuqua spoke with Sandra Fish.

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    Untitled Jackie Sedley

 

KGNU is not aware of any organized opposition to Proposition ii.

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Jackie Sedley

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