The Death Of Taxpayer Rights

by Ashe in America | May 19, 2023 | Feature Story Bottom Left

ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION

“…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

— Benjamin Franklin, 1789

The 2023 legislative session ended on May 8, with a dramatic showing of party unity that hasn’t occurred since 2003.

The conflict centered on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), and the rapid and deceptive manner with which the Senate Bill 23-303 and House Bill 23-1311 passed the General Assembly.

TABOR is not just a law; it’s a constitutional amendment added in 1992 – by Colorado voters. The purpose of TABOR is to limit the growth of government spending and, when government revenues are more than the allowable limits, return the excess to taxpayers.

The Colorado communists hate TABOR. In 2019, Polis and the legislature attempted to mislead voters into approving Proposition CC, a measure to allow the state to keep excess revenues instead of refunding them to taxpayers as constitutionally required.

Voters rejected Proposition CC; but the persistent commies are trying again. In the final two days of the session, the legislature passed two bills that, when combined, represent the death of TABOR.

It Sounds Nice On Paper

SB23-303 is entitled, “Reduce Property Taxes And Voter-approved Revenue Change.” The title is hilarious considering that the proposal will forever end taxpayer refunds under TABOR and, worse, deliver the largest ever property tax increase for Colorado taxpayers. (Spoiler: The largest ever increase is coming regardless, so steel yourself if you own property.)

HB23-1311 is entitled, “Identical Temporary TABOR Refund.” The bill is written in a way that deceives voters into believing its passage strengthens TABOR. Proponents will likely use the bill’s deceptive language to persuade voters when the two measures’ Proposition HH hits the ballot in November.

Proposition HH is well summarized by Independence Institute TV (IITV) in a May 5 YouTube report:

“The proposal manipulates the refund formula over time, causing taxpayers to give up billions of dollars from their refunds. It allows the legislature to continue collecting extra tax revenue without voter approval, potentially accumulating over $400 billion over the next three decades. The plan offers minimal relief by reducing the assessment rate by less than 1%, but it comes at the cost of giving up taxpayer refunds forever.”

Why’d They Wait To The Last Minute?

If you require more evidence that Colorado Democrats are pulling a fast one, consider the proposal’s expedited journey under the dome. Rumored for months, the proposal was only introduced in the final week of session. SB23-303 was introduced on May 1, 2023, and HB23-1311 was introduced on May 6. The legislative session ended May 8.

I reached out to Representative Ken DeGraff for comment, who told me, “Time was not afforded to understand it because they don’t want you to understand it.”

SB23-303 passed the Senate along party lines but, in the House, the Democrat bill sponsors sparked outrage with uncommon third reading amendment. Livid Republicans alleged the amendment was an attempt to buy votes and contended that third reading amendments were only afforded to Democrats. They also maintain that the third reading circus was proof that the bill was not ready for a vote.

Instead of voting, all 19 House Republicans walked out of the chamber. The bill passed 43-0. The drama of a legislative walkout hasn’t happened since 2003, when Senate Democrats, who were in the minority, refused to vote on a redistricting bill.

DeGraff explained, “HB23-1311 is a bribe to tempt about 60% of the population into voting to take money from the other 40% via a flat-rate TABOR refund,” which in linking the bill to SB23-303 will ultimately, “make TABOR irrelevant through Proposition HH.”

From IITV, “The property tax plan is not a heroic rescue but rather extortion, offering a bad solution to a problem they created.”

According to House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, the proposal is a “scheme that the governor waited until the last minutes of session to pull.”

DeGraff was more direct, “When deliberation is considered odious to a deliberative legislative system, the system is broken. The Republican caucus chose to no longer participate in the charade, and to make it known that the legislature has become a farce.”

Maddening. But not surprising.

In Colorado, nothing is certain but death, taxes, and the government’s ongoing attempts to exterminate our rights.

Ashe Epp is a writer and election integrity activist. Read her work at asheinamerica.com and follow her on Telegram and other socials @asheinamerica.

The Colorado Communists v. Tina Peters

by Ashe in America | Apr 21, 2023 | Feature Story Bottom Left

On Monday April 10, former Mesa County Clerk & Recorder Tina Peters appeared in court for sentencing on her Obstruction of Government Operations conviction last month.

Accused of attempting to prevent officials from seizing her iPad, Peters was sentenced to four months of home detention with an ankle monitor, 120 hours of community service, and an almost $800 fine. Peters is appealing the sentence.

“I don’t even have a traffic ticket,” Peters told me. “This is pretty harsh for a first-time offender and Gold Star mom with no prior criminal history.”

Peters made headlines in 2021 when she did a full back up, as required by law, of her county’s electronic voting machines prior to the State’s “Trusted Build” software update.

What followed was a whole-of-government effort to demonize and persecute the duly elected Clerk in an effort to discredit the shocking truth her actions would reveal.

The state took over the Mesa County Clerk’s office, ousted Peters’ loyal staff, and engaged in one of the greatest coverup operations in the history of Colorado.

But the damage to the official election narrative was already done.

A series of reports by cyber and technology experts revealed multiple state and federal violations of election law by the Secretary of State and election vendors.

The first Mesa County Forensic report, delivered September 15, 2021, revealed, “…election records, including data described in the Federal Election Commission’s 2002 Voting System Standards (VSS) mandated by Colorado law as certification requirements for Colorado voting systems, have been destroyed on Mesa County’s voting system, by the system vendor and the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.”

In case you think the local authorities in Mesa County are serious about finding and exposing the truth, within seconds of the report being delivered to the County Commissioners, it was leaked to reporters.

Before the Commissioners read it, they leaked it.

The second forensic analysis, delivered March 1, 2022, revealed that Mesa County’s electronic voting systems contained 36 separate wireless devices, allowing connections to the internet and/or other outside devices that can connect to the internet.

Now remember that, at the time, the standard narrative was that our electronic voting systems “cannot connect to the internet.” Despite that lie being uttered, repeatedly and under oath, across the nation, it was immediately memory-holed.

At once, the narrative shifted to “the systems weren’t connected to the internet,” and the Colorado Secretary of State now issues guidance to local clerks to monitor election systems to ensure they don’t accidentally reconnect to the internet. Notably, no one was monitoring for this during the 2020 election. Back then, the machines “couldn’t” connect to the internet.

The second report also revealed that Mesa’s system was set up to automatically delete audit records and system log files during the “Trusted Build,” despite the legal requirements to retain all records and log files for 22 months federally and 25 months in Colorado.

The third report, delivered March 19, 2022, revealed the creation of shadow databases, in the system back end — as well as illegal software and actual vote swapping — without the knowledge of election officials.

This is the equivalent of keeping a separate set of books in accounting, and this finding was so explosive that District Attorney Dan Rubenstein had to pretend to investigate to explain it away. Rubenstein’s “investigation” was conducted in collaboration with Dominion Voting Systems — yes, really — and he shakily explained away the damning discovery as human error and “time drift.”

Revealing the truth about our elections — and the level to which career elected officials are covering them up — is Tina Peters’ real crime.

Tina Peters will be back in court on May 5 for a “Contempt of Court” charge relating to recording a public, livestreamed hearing. The main trial on Peters’ indictment on seven felonies and three misdemeanors is set for October 17.

Remarkably, Peters remains faithful and unphased. “I am taking some time off to relax, spend time with God, and seek where He wants me to go, and what He wants me to do next.”

As the persecution of Peters has shown, true leadership in the face of overwhelming opposition is both remarkable and rare.

She deserves our gratitude. And she certainly has mine.

Ashe Epp is a writer and activist. You can find all her work at linktr.ee/asheinamerica