Douglas Bruce
Former Colorado State RepresentativeWikipedia
6
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6
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6
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Search complete. 6 mentions across 6 episodes found for "Douglas Bruce".
Oct 20, 2026
Bree DaviesHOST
It's a weird and complicated story.
Paul TeskeGUEST
Well, and to that point, you know, I recently was talking to someone about the – because Tabor does apply to local governments in Colorado – But the bulk of them have done a thing called debruising, back to Douglas Bruce, which means basically you're saying we're not going to have the Tabor cap of population plus inflation.
Paul TeskeGUEST
If money comes into a local government, we can keep it and spend it on services.
Paul TeskeGUEST
And so the vast majority of school districts, municipalities, and counties in Colorado have debruised.
John RushHOST
It's the short acronym for that.
John RushHOST
It was put in by Douglas Bruce and others way back when.
John RushHOST
We've had it for a long time.
John RushHOST
It's really what's kept Colorado in check financially, and made us a pretty stable state as far as that goes.
Paul TeskeSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And then that money has to be refunded per Tabor to the taxpayers.
Tyler HickmanHOST
Governments can exempt taxes from the Tabor cap by asking voters, a process colloquially known as de-bruising, in reference to one of Tabor's biggest proponents, Douglas Bruce.
Tyler HickmanHOST
That means that instead of returning any surpluses to taxpayers, the taxing entity can keep the extra revenue.
Tyler HickmanHOST
If the state's Proposition NN passes, it would eliminate these refunds indefinitely and direct the revenue to K-12 education.
Kim MonsonHOST
Tabor caps how much each local government's spending and property tax revenue may grow each year, and the excess shall be refunded in the next fiscal year unless voters approve a revenue change as an offset, according to the text of Article 10, Section 20.
Kim MonsonHOST
Asking voters for that approval is known as de-bruising, after Tabor author Douglas Bruce and the Colorado Division of Local Government describes it as a broad term that describes a large variety of ballot languages that voters can approve to remove some Tabor spending and revenue limits from a local government.
Kim MonsonHOST
The two largest requests in the guide both reported in the Kim Monson Newsroom's earlier review of 255 questions on October 2.
Kim MonsonHOST
Carrier Retention Clause The Front Range Passenger Rail District's Ballot Issue 7A asks to raise taxes $295 million a year and district debt $580 million, with a repayment cost of $785 million.
Henry SobanetHOST
One more de-bruising, which is partially maybe a disrespectful way of talking about when you relax the Tabor cap.
Henry SobanetHOST
Doug Bruce, the author of Tabor, said he didn't like that phrase.
Henry SobanetHOST
I think I might end up surprising some folks here.
Henry SobanetHOST
This reminds me of a very... seminal moment in the legislature many years ago of State Representative Lori Sane was coming down to argue about the big para reform bill and it was the end of the session.
Ian SilveriiGUEST
It's a good question.
Ian SilveriiGUEST
I think a full repeal of Tabor is something that certain folks want, and I think objectively it's better policy to give the elected officials in the state the ability to run the budget than Doug Bruce from 30 years ago, a criminal tax avoider who's, I think, still in jail.
Ian SilveriiGUEST
I lost track of him, to be honest with you.
Ian SilveriiGUEST
Yeah.