The third time was the charm last week for efforts to place a $4.1 billion-a-year income-tax hike on next year’s statewide ballot — though all it meant was that its backers got the go-ahead from the state to begin gathering voters’ signatures. Two previous and nearly identical proposals for higher taxes and bigger government had been rejected on procedural grounds a few weeks earlier by the same state panel, the Colorado Title Board.

The fact remains that far higher hurdles — most notably, public sentiment — lie ahead. And that’s just as well, of course.

The proposal would ask voters to replace the state’s 4.4% income tax on all Coloradans with a graduated, or “progressive” tax. It would impose an array of different tax rates — creating a dozen different tax brackets — and hike taxes on higher-income earners.

There’s a long road to travel before making it onto the November, 2026 ballot. It still could face a potential, final challenge from opponents before the title board. Then, the proposal has to garner some 125,000 signatures of Colorado voters. It’s a costly step — hiring all those petition circulators — and that’s not to mention the millions of dollars the proposal’s backers would have to raise for an effective campaign to pitch the idea to the public. 

But the biggest impediment is the idea itself.

Its main aim — aside from leaving taxpayers dizzy with its complexity — seems to be to raise a lot more money for the legislature to spend. Not an easy sell to all those taxpaying Colorado consumers who are struggling to make ends meet amid spiraling grocery, utility and other bills.

Although a noisy segment of the political establishment believes the state government never has enough of our tax dollars, it’s a safe bet most taxpayers feel otherwise.

Colorado voters have supported limited tax hikes but more often have turned them down in recent years. The prospects aren’t necessarily any better for this latest money grab. 

Granted, it’s hard to gauge how well a progressive tax might play with the public given its tax-the-rich allure. But the rhetoric about “fairness” that will be used to promote it ignores the fact Colorado already has a much fairer income tax in place. 

Everyone pays their fair share right now under the state’s “flat” tax because it’s the same proportion of everyone’s household income. Which also means the more you earn, the more you pay. It’s simple math: 4.4% of $75,000 in adjusted gross income is $3,000; for an adjusted gross of $250,000, the same percentage nets the state $11,000. Fair enough?

It all adds up to over $17 billion a year for state coffers. 

Evidently, that’s still not enough for the backers of the proposed ballot issue. They seek another $4 billion a year.

Soaking the public for that much more money — while rendering the tax code all the more inscrutable — seems like a pretty tough case to make. 

Then, consider that opposition likely extends even to our state’s Democratic governor. 

While Jared Polis is notoriously coy about where he stands on a lot of ballot issues, he has voiced support for modest cuts implemented at the ballot box to the state’s flat tax. He also has made no secret of his opposition in theory, at least, to any income tax at all.

So, he’s unlikely to support a scheme that goes in the opposite direction. After all, Polis may identify as a progressive — but on this matter, he is a realist.