Update on 2026 Ballot Measure Campaign for Legislators

Protect Colorado’s Future Coalition

Update on Initiative #195

The PCF Steering Committee

Since January

• February 23, 2026: Petitions approved for circulation on initiative #195. Several grassroots organizations initiated circulation.

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• March 16, 2026: Field director started, coordinating several grassroots organizers employed by coalition members and directly organizing hundreds of volunteers

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• April 2, 2026: The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed the Title Board ruling and confirmed the single subject and clear title on initiative #195.

Update on 2026 Ballot Measure Campaign for Legislators

Protect Colorado’s Future Coalition

The Policy

What’s in Initiative #195?

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Initiative #195 replaces Colorado’s flat income tax system with a fairer and more adequate graduated income tax system for both individuals and corporations, including the following provisions:�

• Strikes the requirement from TABOR that requires all taxable net income to be taxed at one rate with no added tax.�
• Establishes a new set of tax brackets and rates, only raising rates on the 3% of individuals and 5% of corporations making more than $500,000 per year while cutting taxes for everyone making less.

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• Raises an estimated $2.0 billion per year for K-12 education, health care, and early child care and education, which must supplement rather than supplant existing investments in these program categories. �
• Requires an annual audit and public reporting to demonstrate that the new funds are spent as the measure requires.

Init. #195: Tweaking TABOR

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• TABOR Section (8)(a) prohibits certain taxes and requires all income to be taxed at one rate with “no added tax or surcharge.” Because a graduated income tax has different rates and could be interpreted to be an “added tax,” #195 strikes these prohibitions while maintaining the prohibition on surcharges on income:

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(8) Revenue limits. (a) New or increased transfer tax rates on real property are prohibited. No new state real property tax or local district income tax shall be imposed. Neither an income tax rate increase nor a new state definition of taxable income shall apply before the next tax year. Any income tax law change after July 1, 1992 shall also require all taxable net income to be taxed at one rate, excluding refund tax credits or voter-approved tax credits, with no added tax or surcharge.

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Init. #195: New tax brackets & rates

• Under current law, all income is taxed at 4.4%.
• Last year’s temporary rate of 4.25% was a TABOR refund mechanism, not a permanent rate change.

Init. #195:�Effective Tax Rates

These effective tax rates are based on Colorado Taxable Income and are equally applicable to Colorado Corporate Net Income.

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Example: A taxpayer making $300,000 per year will pay:�

• 3.7% on the first $25,000
• 4.2% on the next $75,000
• 4.4% on the next $200,000

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The effective rate on the whole $300,000 is 4.29%

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This means 97% of individual taxpayers (including small business owners) will get a tax cut from this tax structure.

Init. #195: Where the money goes

• K-12 public school education, including:
• Improving kindergarten through 12th grade
• Increasing access to career and technical education programs
• Increasing teacher pay
• Health care, including:
• Programs to help families afford health care
• Replacing Medicaid funding lost due to recent federal legislation, and paying for implementation of new federal requirements
• Increasing funding for primary care, behavioral health and rural health care
• Supporting health care, long-term care, and other supports for older adults and people with disabilities
• Programs that increase access to nutritious food
• Early child care and education, including:
• Programs to help families afford child care
• Increasing pay and support for the child care workforce
• Improving access to high-quality early childhood education programs

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Init. #195: Dollars to districts

• We expect that at least 1/3 (and maybe up to 1/2) of the new funds will go to K-12, which would mean at least $700 million per year in new funds for school districts
• If these funds are distributed based on the percent of all Colorado students, we will see increases from $16,000 in our smallest school district to much higher numbers in the largest school districts:
• Denver - $74 million
• Jeffco - $62 million
• Aurora - $32 million
• Adams 12 - $27 million
• Poudre - $24 million
• Pueblo 60 - $11 million
• Alamosa - $1.7 million

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Use this QR code to access our district-specific fact sheets

Update on 2026 Ballot Measure Campaign for Legislators

Protect Colorado’s Future Coalition

The Campaign

Init. #195: Ballot Title

SHALL STATE TAXES BE INCREASED $2.7 BILLION ANNUALLY, IN ORDER TO INCREASE OR IMPROVE LEVELS OF PUBLIC SERVICES, INCLUDING K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, AND EARLY CHILD CARE AND EDUCATION SERVICES, BY AN AMENDMENT TO THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION AND A CHANGE TO THE COLORADO REVISED STATUTES REPEALING EXISTING LAW AND CREATING NEW LAW TO REPLACE THE UNIFORM STATE INCOME TAX RATE WITH A GRADUATED INCOME TAX STRUCTURE, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, AMENDING THE TAXPAYER’S BILL OF RIGHTS TO ELIMINATE THE CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR ALL TAXABLE NET INCOME TO BE TAXED AT ONE RATE WITH NO ADDED TAX ON INCOME; ESTABLISHING VARIOUS INCOME TAX RATES BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF TAXABLE INCOME EARNED BY INDIVIDUALS, ESTATES, TRUSTS, AND CORPORATIONS, WHILE MAINTAINING THE CURRENT 4.4% TAX ON INCOME FROM THE SALE OF A PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE, WHICH WILL RESULT IN THE ESTIMATED CHANGE IN INCOME TAXES OWED BY INDIVIDUALS AS IDENTIFIED IN THE FOLLOWING TABLE; AND AUTHORIZING THE STATE TO RETAIN AND SPEND ANY INCREASED REVENUE FROM THE NEW TAX STRUCTURE, AS A VOTER-APPROVED REVENUE CHANGE, TO SUPPLEMENT CURRENT LEVELS OF FUNDING FOR K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, AND EARLY CHILD CARE AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS?

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Init. #195: Income Bracket Table

This table will appear in the Blue Book and on the ballot itself.

Latest Polling: Ballot Tests

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Initial Ballot Test 55% support 39% oppose

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After 3:1 Negative Messaging 55% support 38% oppose

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“The graduated income tax is a fundamentally more popular concept that achieves more of what voters want and has fewer significant vulnerabilities – as evidenced by the fact that this measure ends almost exactly where it starts in this survey, despite a 3:1 ratio of negatives to positives. In a world where supporters have the resources to properly educate voters about what this measure does, it should win.”

�- Andrew Baumann, Global Strategies Group

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Comparing to Amendment 73 (2018)

Initial Ballot Test 49% support 44% oppose

After 1:1 messaging 45% support 48% oppose

Actual Result 46.4% support 53.6% oppose (needed 55% to pass)

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Poll of 1200 likely 2026 voters between February 5-12, 2026

Threshold to pass: 50% + 1

Petitions: On Track for July Qualification

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• Signature gatherers: canvassing and volunteers to date
• 729 individuals trained and deployed
• Representing 60 communities throughout the state
• 98,960 “lines” in the field (2474 petitions with 40 lines each) with 2½ months remaining
• Infrastructure created:
• Hundreds of events statewide identified
• Map of petition hubs and notaries
• Organizing around and recruiting for progressive events (No Kings, Pride, etc.)
• Verification process to ensure sufficient signatures in each Senate District
• Growing support:
• 70 organizations in the coalition including 20 at the steering committee level
• 55 endorsements from elected officials, including 33 state legislators
• $596,000 raised to support the petition effort

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How school district leaders can help:

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1. Endorse – Voters will see initiative #195 along with the referred debruce measure on the ballot this November. We need both to pass in order to stabilize the budget, backfill federal health care cuts, and ensure we can meaningfully increase investments in K-12 education. But we need all hands on deck.
2. Find opportunities to support petition circulation – We’re aiming to get the bulk of the signatures with our organizer/volunteer model, avoiding high-cost petition firms to save up funds for the fall campaign. Sign up to carry a petition yourself, or invite us to give a presentation at local meetings!
3. Donate – Some supporters have the capacity to give generously, and that makes a big difference. But smaller donations help too, as we want to show the breadth of support through the number of small donors.
4. Speak up – School district leaders are in many meetings with other community organizations and leaders. Talking taxes is never easy, but we can’t be shy about this. We need to have the uncomfortable conversations about what it’s going to take to ensure every kid in every zip code gets a great education.

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