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The Gallagher Amendment
April 25, 2018
The Gallagher Amendment was passed in 1982, and its stated purpose was to “maintain a constant ratio between the property tax revenue that comes from residential property and from business property” (Great Education Colorado). Though the math behind it is complex, the amendment basically states that the assessment rate for residences, or the percent of property value that is taxed, cannot grow faster than the assessment rate for business property. Because population has grown dramatically in the past years in Colorado, residential real estate values have increased, and so the amount of taxes collected from property have decreased by nearly two-thirds since Gallagher’s adoption. Before 1982, a majority of school funding came from property taxes, but the reduction in tax collection means that school funding must now come out of the state’s annual budget.