Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Complete Colorado

Montana Looks To Colorado’s Flat Tax Legacy As Colorado Debates Progressive Alternative
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Montana Looks To Colorado’s Flat Tax Legacy As Colorado Debates Progressive Alternative

By Nash Herman | Complete Colorado While Montana is poised to learn from the flat tax success stories of Colorado and other Western states, the push for a progressive income tax in Colorado threatens the very policies that made the state successful in the first place.  Some history  Colorado and Montana both implemented progressive individual income taxes in the 1930s during the Great Depression.   However, Colorado was one of the first states to join the “flat tax revolution” when it implemented a single flat rate of 5 percent for all incomes in 1987.  Then, through rate cuts at the turn of the century and Independence Institute-led Propositions 116 and 121 in 2020 and 2022, Colorado lowere...
Read More
Inflationary Bracket Creep With Initiative 195 Could Push More Coloradans Into Higher Tax Brackets
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Inflationary Bracket Creep With Initiative 195 Could Push More Coloradans Into Higher Tax Brackets

By Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Initiative 195, the proposed ‘progressive’ income tax ballot measure, promises long-term pain for Colorado taxpayers due to what economists call “bracket creep.”  But we do not need to speculate about the impact of bracket creep, as we can already see its effect in action since voters passed Proposition FF in 2022.  Proposition FF Through Proposition FF, voters decided to increase taxes on high-income Colorado earners to support a universal school lunch program.  The measure capped state deductions for tax filers with a federal adjusted gross income exceeding $300,000 and directed new revenue to the Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program.   READ THE FUL...
Read More
Cherry-picking the rankings: A columnist’s case against Polis education claim
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Cherry-picking the rankings: A columnist’s case against Polis education claim

By Ari Armstrong | Commentary, Complete Colorado Colorado ranks 47th in crime and corrections, 45th in fiscal stability, and 39th in opportunity, according to U.S. News and World Report, Governor Jared Polis noted in July. Ha ha, just kidding! Polis proclaimed that “Colorado Ranked #1 in Education,” ignoring the low rankings in other categories and downplaying the fact that most Colorado students cannot read or do math at grade level according to state testing. You can see the U.S. News rankings for yourself. Colorado ranks as 17th “best state overall,” which I guess is kind of good? I mean, it’s the top half, right? Okay, sure, we got beat by Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Delaware, while our neighbor Utah took the #1 spot. Not embarrassing at all! Cherry pick...
Read More
Colorado Progressive Tax Plan Raises Long-Term Bracket Creep Concerns
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Progressive Tax Plan Raises Long-Term Bracket Creep Concerns

By Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Proponents of a progressive state income tax claim that it will give most Coloradans a break on their taxes.   Those familiar with history, inflation, and bracket creep see a much different long-term picture.   Repeating history The US adopted a federal income tax in 1913, justified by the claim that only about one percent of the population would pay the tax in its earliest years.  Does this sound familiar?   Proponents of Initiative 195, the ballot measure to switch Colorado’s 4.4 percent flat income tax rate to a progressive tax, are adamant that the measure is fair because 97 percent of filers will receive a tax cut.  READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COMPLETE COLORAD...
Read More
New Colorado Firearm Licensing Requirements Draw Constitutional Questions
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

New Colorado Firearm Licensing Requirements Draw Constitutional Questions

By: Mike Krause | Complete Colorado In a recent episode of  Independence Institute’s public affairs tv show, Devil’s Advocate, host Jon Calda sits down with Ray Elliott, president of the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), to look at sweeping new Colorado gun rights restrictions taking effect August 1. The two zero in on Senate Bill 25-003, which slaps heavy new burdens on purchasing many commonly owned firearms, including the popular AR-platform rifle. Elliott lays out the new licensing scheme: prospective buyers of certain firearms must first obtain approval from their county sheriff, pay multiple fees, complete a state-approved firearms training course, and navigate what he describes as an increasingly burdensome financial and logistical barriers for...
Read More
Colorado College Awards Credit for Progressive Activism Internships
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Local

Colorado College Awards Credit for Progressive Activism Internships

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado COLORADO SPRINGS—Colorado College is putting a price tag on political activism — or rather, waiving it for its own students — by offering academic credit to undergraduates who spend the summer, among other offerings, working to “shut down immigration detention centers.” The Colorado Springs-based private liberal arts school’s “Social Action Institute” runs a summer internship pairing students with left-of-center advocacy groups from June 11 through July 28. One of the three tracks offered lets students assist attorneys representing immigration detainees while simultaneously doing “advocacy and organizing work” toward closing the facilities where those same clients are held.  Students earn .25 credits towards graduation fo...
Read More
What Would Colorado’s Declaration Of Independence Say Today?
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

What Would Colorado’s Declaration Of Independence Say Today?

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado Happy 250th Birthday, America! You look fabulous. As all the cool countries are saying, “250 is the new 230.” The Declaration of Independence wasn’t merely an announcement of war against a tyrant. It was the most revolutionary political document ever written. The Declaration was a landmark in human development, perhaps the landmark of all human history. For the first time government was no longer affirmed sovereign. The individual was. That simple idea changed the world. You rule yourself. Your life belongs to you. Your liberty belongs to you. Your happiness is yours to pursue as you define it. Your property belongs to you. Government exists not to rule over you, but to secure your&n...
Read More
Colorado Lawmakers Receive Quiet Back Door Pay Raises Through Commission Process
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado Lawmakers Receive Quiet Back Door Pay Raises Through Commission Process

By: Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado I am personally responsible for helping overpay socialists to make Colorado unaffordable, overregulated and one windstorm away from a power blackout. I failed you. Colorado legislators already get automatic inflation raises. You know, just like your job (I’m assuming the sarcasm bled through that one). No private-sector worker has that kind of protection forever. Even union jobs eventually meet reality. Ask Spirit Airlines employees. And that’s the problem. What happens when lawmakers no longer depend on the private sector for most of their livelihood? They stop understanding the people they supposedly represent. They get disconnected. And has Colorado ever had more of a disconnected team of politicia...
Read More
Taxpayers on the Hook When Government Programs Cost More Than Promised
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Taxpayers on the Hook When Government Programs Cost More Than Promised

By: Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Colorado’s state budget is structurally unsustainable, which majority Democrats say could be fixed by ending voter consent over new taxation or by increasing taxes on Colorado residents through a progressive income tax.  While those suggestions would certainly increase state revenue, they are unlikely to fix Colorado’s ongoing budget deficits.  Meanwhile, taxpayers often learn too late that programs are vastly exceeding costs; programs like Cover all Coloradans, Healthy School Meals for All, and the wolf reintroduction scheme were all revealed to be more expensive than initially advertised to voters.  Why do programs end up being so much more expensive than advertised?&n...
Read More
Colorado Voters To Decide Future Of TABOR Refunds In November
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Voters To Decide Future Of TABOR Refunds In November

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — For years, Democrats have been chipping away at Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds while looking for ways to permanently disable the more than 30-year-old constitutional amendment that, among other things, limits growth of a portion of the state budge to a formula of population growth plus inflation.  Revenue collected over that limit must be refunded to taxpayers unless voters consent to forgoing refunds at the ballot box. This year, however, they may have found the way. The late session introduction and passage of Senate Bill 135 sends a question to the voters in November essentially ending TABOR rebates.  Proponents are using using school children and teachers to tug at the heart strings of Coloradans ...
Read More