DENVER — A lawsuit over one of Colorado’s state ballot issues is headed to court Monday morning.
An Arapahoe County man is suing over Amendment 87, which proposes a graduated income tax.
See the full story in the video below
Michael Andre Hancock, who lawyers confirmed is not the former mayor, filed suit against Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Amendment 87 proponents Chris deGruy Kennedy of the Bell Policy Center and Kiyana Newell of New Era Colorado.
The lawsuit claims those groups in charge of the signature gathering and certification process that got this measure on the ballot was done incorrectly with 9,849 signatures in question. If those signatures are revoked, the Amendment wouldn’t have enough signatures to be on the ballot.
In Colorado, a ballot measure needs signatures from 5% of the total number of votes cast in the Secretary of State race in the prior general election.
The coalition behind Amendment 87, Protect Colorado’s Future, used both paid and volunteer signature gatherers. The lawsuit alleges that 69 of the people listed as paid gatherers weren’t on the list of registered and trained petition circulators.
It also challenges the secretary of state's review of the signatures.
Amendment 87 tackles Colorado’s flat income tax rate, instead offering a graduated tax rate. Colorado has a 4.4% flat income tax. A ‘no’ vote on 87 would keep the rate the same. A ‘yes’ vote on Amendment 87 would tax income by bracket and remove the flat tax rate from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights or TABOR.
Any revenue made from this change would go to the Colorado Futures Account, a proposed fund that would give money to public education, healthcare and early child care programs.
Amendment 87 is separate from Proposition 136, which is another ballot measure that could cap individual and corporate taxes at 4.4%.
Denver7 reached out to the Secretary of State Office. They won’t comment on pending litigation. We also didn’t hear back from the firm representing Hancock in filing the lawsuit.
A judge will hear arguments in the lawsuit Monday at 9 a.m. at the Denver City and County building.
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