One year ago today, Gov. Bill Ritter announced his "Children's Amendment," which ended up passing as part of the 2007 School Finance Act - effectively raising property taxes on homes and businesses without a constitutional vote of the people. Now comes the revelation from a high-ranking member of Ritter's own Democratic Party: The money generated from the tax hike isn't just to fund schools. The chairman of the powerful Joint Budget Committee has acknowledged on the record that a sweeping statewide property-tax hike pushed through last year by his fellow Democrats will subsidize new social programs--not just schools, as originally promised. Democrat Bernie Buescher, of Grand Junction, said in a JBC meeting this week that some of the … [Read more...]