April M. Washington

Rocky Mountain News

Anti-tax crusader Jon Caldara filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the governor's property-tax plan to prop up school funding.

Caldara says the new law requires a vote of the people.

Gov. Bill Ritter's spokesman Evan Dreyer characterized the class action as frivolous and said it was nothing more than "typical Jon Caldara shenanigans holding children of the state hostage."

Six months ago, Ritter and Democrats pushed through a freeze on property tax rates in most school districts. Rates otherwise would have declined under a 1994 law.

The lawsuit asks a Denver District Court to strike down the new law, arguing it amounts to a tax policy change and should have gone to the voters as required by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights....

Read full story: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/dec/14/caldara-sues-over-tax-rate-for-schools/