Don’t let higher costs price Coloradans out.

Amendment 87 proposes to significantly alter a cornerstone tax policy Coloradans have relied on for 34 years. By replacing the current 4.4% flat tax, guaranteed with Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), with a graduated income tax system, the measure would abandon an equal-rate policy in place since 1987. While 26 states utilize progressive tax brackets, passing Amendment 87 would force Colorado to surrender a core pillar of its nearly three decades of taxpayer protection.

Flat taxes champion proportional fairness, arguing that a single rate protects individual, joint and corporate taxpayers from targeted rate hikes while keeping the tax code simple and predictable. By contrast, graduated tax systems raise tax rates as taxable income grows, grounded in the belief that wealthy earners should bear a larger share of the tax burden.

This year, roughly two-thirds of the ground we operate went unplanted. We didn’t have enough moisture to justify the expense of putting a crop in the ground.

That is what farming sometimes demands: spending less today so you have a chance to survive tomorrow.

I’m a third-generation Colorado farmer. My son is helping lead our operation as the fourth generation. We’re working to keep this family farm productive and in the family. But that takes more than getting through this year’s harvest. It takes enough financial strength to survive the bad years and recover in the good ones.

That is why I oppose Amendment 87.

This election, Coloradans are being asked to consider complicated tax policy on our ballots. Let me tell you why I am voting no on Amendment 87 and yes on Proposition NN.

Amendment 87 would be a multi-billion-dollar tax increase. Our economy is struggling, and the cost of everything has skyrocketed thanks to Trump’s tariffs and inflation. Adding this enormous tax increase now would seriously hurt our economy and raise prices on everything from restaurants to clothing and other necessities.

We fear that raising $2.7 billion in taxes in a single year on the backs of Colorado’s largest businesses will do more harm than good for this state. We urge voters to say no to Amendment 87.

Yes, we know that the flat income tax in Colorado leaves the state’s middle class holding a heavier tax burden than their wealthiest counterparts, for whom 4.4% is no burden at all. Yes, we know that this state does need to fund education for thousands of kids and to provide health care for people with disabilities and lower-income residents

Some call Amendment 87 a “progressive tax.” Some call it a “graduated tax.”

But Colorado Gov. Jared Polis calls it what it is: a “$2.7 billion tax hike” that is “bad policy that would destroy our economy and raise taxes for low-income Coloradans.” 

Amendment 87’s supporters say a graduated income-tax system would impact only a small number of “wealthy” Coloradans. But that claim ignores the broader economic consequences for local employers, family businesses, farms, ranches and the communities that depend on them.

Colorado’s small businesses sustain Main Street and rural economies across the state. If small businesses can no longer afford to invest, hire, expand or simply keep their doors open, the consequences will reach far beyond their bottom line. There will be fewer jobs and local services and less support for schools, nonprofits and community institutions that sustain our communities.

As Gov. Jared Polis said, the measure is “bad policy that would destroy our economy.”

This is why we urge Colorado voters to reject Amendment 87.