DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Colorado voters hit a perfect storm of Prop NN distraction.

There’s a good chance you will never receive another TABOR tax refund for as long as you live.

If Proposition NN wins, whom should we blame? Three suspects: the car-wash pricing strategy, Victor Marx and Kyle Clark.

In any normal election, NN would lose easily. Whenever Colorado voters have been asked to surrender their tax refunds, they vote with their middle finger.

People enjoy keeping their own money. Go figure.

Tax-refund-grabbing Proposition CC failed in 2019 by nearly seven points. Its successor, Proposition HH, lost in 2023 by Yankees-versus-Rockies numbers: almost 19 points.

If politics had any consistency, NN would lose by even more. It is far more destructive than either CC or HH.

CC and HH would have “de-TABORed” Colorado, allowing the legislature to keep your tax refunds. But neither changed TABOR’s spending formula of population growth and inflation.

NN lets the legislature rewrite that formula whenever it wants.

Translation: If Colorado ever appears likely to collect excess revenue again, lawmakers can simply move the goalposts until the excess disappears. They keep the surplus. You don’t get a refund. No voters required.

This is a very big deal. Why is no one talking about it?

It’s no accident — there’s a distraction game going on, both on the ballot and in the local media.