February 05, 2026 11:50 AM UTC

Nobody Lies Quite Like Gabe Evans (Property Tax Edition)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Associating politicians with lying is not a new phenomenon by any means, but some folks take bullshit to a different level. Congressman Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) is one of those people. Evans shamelessly lies so often about so many different issues that it’s more uncommon to find out that he’s telling the truth about something.

This morning, Evans did it again, firing off a finger-wagging social media post about property taxes in response to a post on ‘X’ from a random user:

Have some individuals seen sizable increases in property taxes in recent years? Probably. But there’s no data to suggest that property taxes have risen overall by “nearly 40% since 2023.”

Property assessment rates for residential homes have changed slightly in the last year, but not by much; after holding steady at 6.7% in 2023 and 2024, the rate moved to 7.05% for 2025 and 2026.

Property tax rates can jump significantly when home values rise, which happened after the COVID pandemic, but home values DECLINED last year. According to Zillow, the average home value in Colorado in 2025 went down by 2.4%.

Now, property taxes may be increasing more significantly for some people, but there’s a big asterisk there; those increases are mostly because property taxes were artificially low in previous years. As Marianne Goodland wrote last month for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

In 2022, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 22-238, which reduced property tax assessment rates and taxable valuations on residential properties by $15,000 in the 2023 and 2024 tax years.

The state picked up most of the tab for the lowered property tax payments, which go to counties and special districts, including fire districts, police, hospitals, fire, water, and libraries, to pay for services, and to school districts to pay for K-12 education.

In 2024, lawmakers, hoping to finally resolve what Gov. Jared Polis called the “property tax wars,” passed Senate Bill 24-233, which increased the valuation discount to $55,000.

But both bills were only intended as a short-term relief….

…The loss of the $55,000 adjustment will mean everyone will feel it, Braddock said. For those in manufactured homes, “many of them had nominal tax values,” their tax bills are going to go back to what they paid a couple of years ago, said Boulder County Assessor Cindy Braddock. [Pols emphasis]

Coloradans also receive a 10% reduction in the first $700,000 of assessed home value thanks to a law passed during the 2024 special legislative session, so Evans’s attempt too blame Governor Jared Polis for any increase is pretty silly.

And then there’s this important note at the end of Goodland’s story:

As of 2025, Colorado still had some of the lowest property tax rates in the country, according to Rocket Mortgage, but the high home values — Rocket estimates the median at $502,200 — mean the property taxes themselves aren’t as low as they are in other states, even with their higher rates.

And that puts the final squirt of mustard on Evans’s baloney.

There are certainly reasonable policy discussions to be had about property taxes — in Colorado and elsewhere — but those discussions should be grounded in facts.

Gabe Evans will lie about anything in order to cast blame on Democrats while completely ignoring any negative actions taken by Republicans such as President Trump. This is just about the only clear thing you can say about America’s most vulnerable Republican incumbent in 2026.